CHANDIGARH: Marking another landmark leap in tertiary healthcare, the Bhagwant Singh Mann-led Punjab Government has scripted history as Government Medical College (GMC), Patiala, has successfully performed its first-ever kidney transplant, making it the first state-run medical college in Punjab to achieve this distinction.
This milestone comes after the state recorded successful liver transplants at the Punjab Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (PILBS), Mohali. Punjab Health and Family Welfare and Medical Education and Research Minister Dr Balbir Singh, while addressing a press conference at Punjab Bhawan here on Tuesday, said that the complex surgical procedure was successfully performed on September 10, 2026.
Sharing clinical details, the Health Minister stated that the recipient, a 37-year-old resident of Romana Patti, Namol in Sangrur district, had been suffering from kidney failure due to Membranoproliferative Glomerulonephritis (MPGN) and had been on maintenance haemodialysis thrice weekly since December 2025.
The Health Minister also expressed deep gratitude to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, especially Director Prof. Vivek Lal, and Prof. Ashish Sharma, Head of Renal Transplant Surgery and ROTTO-North, as well as the Department of Immunopathology at PGI Chandigarh, for their mentorship, hands-on training, technical guidance, and active on-site surgical supervision in establishing the renal transplant programme at GMC Patiala.
