Srinagar, Nov 13: Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Srinagar (Soura) has become the first hospital in Jammu and Kashmir to perform Renal Denervation Therapy, a procedure done at only a few centers in India, successfully treating two patients.
Doctors at SKIMS stated that the institute has created history as this procedure is the first of its kind in the UT of J&K, with only around 40 such rare procedures performed across the entire country so far.
Head Department of Cardiology, Prof Hilal A. Rather said the therapy is done on patients who are on multiple drugs and who have uncontrolled blood pressure.
“This therapy was not available even in India until the recent past and very few places do it as it is costly. Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved it and not many cases are done in the country,” he said.
Prof Hilal said the therapy was performed on two patients at the institute who had severe hypertension and the procedure takes just one day.
“We have done two cases and both of them are doing well and one parents’ blood pressure has been controlled and we have stopped giving the patient other medicines,” he said.
Currently, the therapy costs Rs 7.5 lakh however the beneficiaries of the Ayushman Bharat Scheme in Jammu and Kashmir receive a benefit of Rs 5 lakh, with the remaining amount covered by the patient.
He said that the cost of the therapy is expected to decrease over time, as it is a relatively new procedure in both India and globally. “Now that this therapy is available, only with more cases will we be able to understand its long-term effects on patients,” he said.
“It is the last resort in treatment armamentarium of patients with resistant hypertension despite being on multiple anti-hypertensive medications. With its great safety profile and good efficiency it helps in controlling hypertension and brings down hypertension related morbidity and mortality,” Prof. Hilal said.
Director SKIMS Prof M. Ashraf Ganie has complimented the department for performing this rare procedure at the institute. The director said that the therapy will serve the resistant hypertensive patients in the valley who had to otherwise visit corporate hospitals outside Jammu and Kashmir to get similar treatment.
