Doctors sound liver warning for Kolkata

KOLKATA: With doctors warning that fat-rich food and sedentary lifestyle lead to a spurt in liver diseases, it could even become the second most common ailment in the city, after diabetes in another 15 years. Surprisingly, Kolkata lacked a dedicated research facility for liver diseases but not any more.

A state-of-the-art laboratory was inaugurated at the IndianInstitute of Liver and

Digestive Sciences

(IILDS), Sonarpur on Tuesday. The facility, promising to offer a cutting edge research in the field of liver diseases, was set up in association with

MedGenome

.

“In India, there’s been a paradigm shift in the dynamics of liver disease. Every year, more than two lakh individuals die due to liver disease and around 10 lakh are diagnosed with liver cirrhosis. Liver and gastrointestinal illnesses are emerging as major health-care priorities in India. The lab will provide much needed impetus to better understand and mitigate serious liver ailments,” said Dr Abhijit Chowdhury, secretary of state Liver Foundation.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver ailment that can lead to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Hence, there is a need to understand the disease better at the cellular level. The centre is touted to be the country’s first lab to study NAFLD in the Indian subcontinent and seek better understanding of cellular mechanisms involved in NAFLD’s progression to fibrosis of liver.

“Technological innovation and improved understanding of human diseases are the two pillars of medical science advancement. We aim to build acentre of excellence for better diagnosis and treatment solutions for combating liver diseases,” said

Sam Santhosh

, chairman and founder of

Med-Genome

.