Remembering India’s first kidney transplant surgery in CMC Vellore 50 years ago

On 2nd February, India celebrated its 50th anniversary of the first Kidney transplant surgery in the country. It was on February 2 1971 at the Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore that the country conducted the first ever Kidney Transplant surgery by a team of surgeons led by Dr.K.V. Johny and Dr.Mohan Rao.

CMC achieved this ground breaking success after meticulous planning and preparations. In order to earn more expertise the hospital sent Dr.KV Johny and Dr.Mohan Rao to Queen Elizabeth Hospital Australia prior to the surgery. After the doctors returned from Australia, the company started taking necessary steps under the guidance of Dr.Web who was the director then.

Prior to this surgery, the country had attempted two kidney transplant surgeries in 1965 and 1966 in Mumbai and Varanasi respectively. But both failed.

” There were two operation theaters functional. One for the donor and the other for receiver. Starting from 7 am the surgery continued until midnight.” Dr.Johny who pioneered the surgery remembered those moments.

It took two weeks for the patients get discharged from the hospital and after 3 months CMC conducted another Kidney plant surgery, the doctor said.

Dr.Johny is 82 now. He belongs to  Vakayar Kavannayil family Konni, Kerala.