The Gujarat Government invited a team of surgeons from Pune’s Galaxy Care Hospital to perform these back-to-back uterine transplants on two women in their twenties. Dr. Shailesh Puntambekar, the Medical Director of GCH, oversaw the operations at the Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre on the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital campus.
According to report, Dr. Puntambekar, said: “We performed nine uterine transplants, all in Maharashtra, before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Now, with the Gujarat government giving approval for uterine transplants in the State, our 11-member team of surgeons conducted the transplants on the two women on Sunday.”
Sharing details about the two women, Dr. Milind Telang, GCH’s Chief Gynaecologist informed that both were stable with no blood transfusion required. “The first patient was 28 years old, who had a small uterus and was infertile. She and her 49-year-old mother – the donor – were evaluated as per the transplant norms, and the transplant was done. The second patient was 22 years old, who suffered from an absent uterus due to Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome. The woman, who has been married for three years, was donated the uterus by her mother following an evaluation.”
Following the surgeries, the two women and their families were counselled.
Women with absolute uterine factor infertility are unable to conceive because they either do not have a uterus or their uterus is no longer functioning properly.
The first two successful uterine transplants in India were performed in May 2017 at Galaxy Care Hospital, with the third performed in January 2018. These transplants are painless because they are performed using laparoscopic surgery.