Successful heart surgery performed on HIV patient for the first time in China!

(Image for representational purposes only)

New Delhi: In a first for the country, China was witness to a successful heart surgery performed on an HIV patient.

Surgery was the only solution for the the 58-year-old male patient, who was suffering from a cardiac aortic valve calcification problem.

"It was China's first successful heart surgery on an HIV-positive patient," said Lu Hongzhou, director of the Shanghai Center for AIDS Diagnosis and Treatment.

Sun Xiaoning, a surgeon with Zhongshan Hospital under Fudan University, said after the surgery on January 6, the patient was transferred so that HIV-related complications could be treated.

"There is an occupational risk when operating on HIV-positive patients. Our team was not afraid, it was our obligation," Sun was quoted as saying by state run Xinhua news agency.

Zhu Tongyu, director of the Shanghai Public Health Clinic Centre, said people living with HIV/AIDS are often rejected by hospitals for surgery.

The centre's AIDS Diagnosis and Treatment Centre has dedicated itself to addressing this difficulty for the past seven years.

It was with the help of the centre that the patient was admitted by the hospital.

The centre has helped AIDS patients get surgery ranging from orthopaedics, neurosurgery, oncology to ophthalmology.

(With PTI inputs)