Hyderabad: It’s been 25 years since P. Srinivas Rao had his kidney transplant. He is now 52 and the journey has been one of extreme care, as the risk of infections in transplant patients is very high.

This fact is drilled into all transplant patients by their nephrologists and then it is the patients’ duty to be careful. Mr Rao says, “I underwent transplant in 1989.

After that I realised that life must be led like that of a child. Even a slight cough or cold made me rush to a doctor.”

Celebrating the 60th year of the first kidney transplant in the world, Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences called upon its ‘highly compliant’ patients and felicitated them.

Sixty-two year old Y.V. Rao, whose transplant was carried out in 1991, said, “You have to be very careful of what you eat and drink.

The surroundings where you work and live must be very neat and clean. Even the smallest ailment has to be reported to the nephrologists.”

The 20 patients who attended the function on Tuesday joked that the nephrologist was like a second wife.