The Liver Foundation Launch in Hyderabad

Launch of (Season's Bridal Collection &) a foundation for patients with liver disease.

Hyderabad, 2nd Dec 2015: Shravan Kumar, world famous fashion designer released his 2016 bridal collection tonight in a function held at Hotel Abode by Sri Venkateswara Hotel, Lakdikapul, Hyd among the dignitaries gathered for a fashion show with a difference. There is an extra essence in this year's launch. Along with the collection, which will show off woven cloth magic at its best, there is an announcement of a new charity/NGO called THE LIVER FOUNDATION (TLF). This is a private initiative by a small group of ordinary people to help patients with liver disease in our state & country.

The foundation was officially launched by the Telangana Minster of State for Health Sri Laxma Reddy garu in the presence of the Principal Secretary of State for Health Mr Tewari. The occasion was graced by some of the foremost specialists in the world of medicine in India, such Prof Kakarla Subba Rao- A giant in the field of radiology and the founder director of Nizam's institute of medical sciences; Dr SomaRaju- a superb cardiologist and the person behind CARE group of hospitals. Other well known personalities who were also present - the director of medical education Dr Ramani, Addl DG Police Mr Lakhtakia, Jt Commissioner Police Mr Shivaprasad, Mr Raghu Nandan- Collector RangaReddy Dist, Dr Navneet Sagar, Ex-Head Chest Hospital, Dr Swarnalatha, Head of Jeevandan, Prof Bheerappa, Prof Prathap Reddy & Prof Madhusudhan, Heads of the liver surgery depts of NIMS and Osmania. Noted business organisations including several pharmaceutical companies were also represented by Mr Rajeev (NATCO), Mr Rajeev (SANDOR), Medtronic among others.
In addition, eminent people from film and fashion fields became part of this noble mission and expressed their support to The Liver Foundation'. Film hero Nani, heroine Rasi Khanna, pop singer Smitha, 'Size Zero' film writer Ms. Kanika, 'Bahubali' costume designer Ms. Prasanti and others were among them.

The men behind TLF about their mission:
TLF is the idea of liver transplant Surgeon Prof. Tom Cherian, who is the head of the division of liver surgery & transplantation for CARE group of hospitals & professor of liver transplantation at NIMS. He has worked in the field of liver surgery for over 15 years mainly in London (UK) and for the last 2 years in Hyd.

Prof Tom Cherian remarked that "Given the desperate need I see everyday, of greater awareness, better advice, higher quality of care, I gathered a group of my friends who were interested in joining a quiet campaign for liver patients. All trustees have other independent occupations /sources of income and derive NO financial benefit from this foundation in any way whatsoever. In fact the seed money for the initial activities came from personal contributions from each of these 11 friends ..."

On being asked as to why he felt the need to start something like this...Prof Tom Cherian said "Three liver diseases alone (Fatty liver disease, viral hepatitis and liver malignancy) of a total of over 50 separate liver disease entities creates over 60 million PATIENTS in our country alone. Of these over 10 million are children. Unfortunately ALL of these diseases are highly prevalent in our country and their incidence is increasing. Every year about 2 lakh deaths are due to liver disease in India. Such statistics prompts the need for such a foundation to fight the cause of the liver patient". In practice TLF has planned several campaigns- Child centered health strategies in schools & colleges- "LiverChild" programme; Hepatitis B eradication - Univer sal 0- 14yrs "Vaccinate 2 Eliminate" drive; Biliary atresia, Viral & Cancer screening in high risk populations- "Detect to Protect" early detection camps; Liver disease helpline "Good Advice Saves Lives" campaigns".

Renowned journalist & Liver Foundation director Mrs Indira Parimi opined that "with increase in population and poverty, sufferers from diseases are becoming more. As a social responsibility, if people from various fields join their hands and do their bit in whatever way they can, to alleviate the sufferings of patients and their families, ours would be better world. Liver Foundation is a small step towards that goal".

The designer Shravan hoped that his involvement will encourage others to contribute meaningfully to such causes. On behalf of the liver foundation, Prof Tom Cherian remarked that the mission statement of the foundation - "Enable prevention, improve survival & increase quality of life in patients with benign, chronic, malignant or acute liver disease in India" is ambitious and that there is much to be done.