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The world’s most successful and pioneering liver transplant specialist Professor Mohamed Rela asserted that he and his medical team are ready to perform liver transplants on patients in Sri Lanka if the Sri Lankan Government provides necessary infrastructure.
Professor Rela points out that the Sri Lankan Government should make a formal invitation to him and his medical team under a proper system in that regard, claiming that he would be able to launch a successful liver transplant program with the assistance of local doctors. 
Professor Rela said this in his speech at a meeting of specialist doctors treating patients suffering from liver-related diseases, held at Shangri-La Colombo on 25 September. The event was organised by the Dr. Rela Institute and Medical Centre in Chennai. The Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Dr. Rajitha Senarathna participated as the Chief Guest.
Addressing the gathering, Professor Mohamed Rela further said that Sri Lanka has talented doctors with whose assistance he would be able to launch a broad program to perform liver transplants in Sri Lanka. According to the International Health Organisations, the highest number of successful liver transplants in the world has been performed by Professor Mohamed Rela of the Faculty of Liver Transplants, Kings College, UK. A co-ordinating office of the Dr. Rela Institute and Medical Centre has also been established in Sri Lanka.
Professor Rela further expressed, “We have been working with Sri Lankan doctors for the last ten years.
Sri Lankan doctors are equally talented as their Indian counterparts. That is the major reason for me to decide to work with them. We were able to perform successful liver transplant surgery on over 100 Sri Lanka patients who had suffered from cirrhosis during the last ten years. The post-treatment is by Sri Lankan doctors. I have been working with a team of the most talented doctors in the world who have been trained in liver transplant surgery at Kings College in Great Britain. The Dr. Rela Institute and Medical Centre has 14 theatres equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and 130-bed Intensive Care Unit. I have performed nearly 5000 liver transplant surgeries during my three decade of medical profession. It is a record.
I was ambitious to give a new life to cirrhosis patients who were haplessly waiting for death. It was a raucous and uphill task. However, I achieved the goal and, at the end, it brought new hope to the patients who were lying in death bed.
“I and my medical team are ready to help Sri Lanka.
The doctors attached to the Dr. Rela Institute and Medical Centre have already launched liver transplant programs in several countries. Oman is one such country. A team of our doctors went to Oman and performed liver transplant surgery. I would like to implement such a long-term program in Sri Lanka as well. We will be able to share our knowledge accordingly. Not only that, we will be able to exchange technology.
The Sri Lankan Government has only one thing to do – that is to provide us necessary infrastructure and extend our medical team a formal invitation under a systematic criterion.”
Addressing the gathering, Dr. Rajitha Senarathana said he appreciates the service already extended by Professor Mohamed Rela to Sri Lanka. He said liver transplant surgery was launched in Sri Lanka in 2015 and that steps have been taken to strengthen the program further.
Deputy Health Minister Faizal Caseem, Dr. Rela Institute and Medical Centre India Liver Transplant Specialist Surgeon Dr. Gomathy Narasimhan, Liver Disease Specialist Dr. Dinesh Jothimani, Liver Transplant Specialist Surgeon Dr. Naresh Shanmugam, Liver Transplant Specialist Surgeon of Sri Lanka Dr. Rohan Siriwardana, Hepatology Specialist
Dr. Anuradha Dasanayake, University of Colombo Department of Paediatrics Prof. Shaman Rajindrajith and several other doctors were also present.
Dr. Mohamed Rela Hospital Sri Lanka Representative Office Head FMA Riaz and a group of Sri Lankan patients on whom Professor Mohamed Rela had performed liver transplants in India also participated.
