PATNA, Sept. 27 -- In a landmark achievement for Bihar's healthcare, doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Patna, have successfully performed the state's first-ever deceased donor's liver transplant. The seven-hour surgery, which began late Thursday night and concluded early Friday morning, marked a breakthrough in organ transplantation in the state. The transplant was made possible after a semi-literate woman from Samastipur consented to donate the liver and cornea of her 67-year-old mother, who had been declared "brain dead" on September 24 following a road accident. Despite initial hesitation and even a last-minute withdrawal of consent, AIIMS doctors persuaded the family to agree to the donation. The donor, who suffered a head injury during a road accident, was brought to the trauma and emergency department of AIIMS in a comatose condition around a week back. Initial efforts to convince the family to donate her organs was met with resistance, said Dr Umesh Kumar Bhadani, professor and head, department of anaesthesiology who played a key role in counselling the woman's family to donate her organs. "This is a historic moment for the institute and for Bihar," said Dr Utpal Anand, additional professor and head of the gastrointestinal surgery department, who led the transplant team. "The recipient, a 43-year-old male from Patna, has been extubated and is haemodynamically stable. His vital parameters are normal." The patient, weighing 122 kg, posed additional surgical challenges due to obesity and a fatty liver, Dr Anand said. To expedite the process, AIIMS created a green corridor between its trauma centre and the operating theatre, ensuring swift transfer of the donor organs. Permission from the State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTTO) at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) came just in time, and the surgery commenced at around 11 pm on Thursday. While the kidney transplant could not be carried out due to a Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) mismatch, the liver transplant proceeded under the supervision of a visiting team from the Centre for Liver and Biliary Sciences (CLBS), Max Hospital, New Delhi....