New Delhi, March 1 -- Harvard Medical School, part of Harvard Univeristy and one of the world's most prestigious medical institutions, has partnered with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi to launch India's first face transplant programme.

Mint explains this breakthrough initiative for patients with severe facial disfigurement and who have exhausted conventional options to restore critical functions such as breathing, eating, and speaking, besides identity and social acceptance; along with accompanying legal and ethical issues.

Face transplantation has transitioned from an experimental procedure to an established clinical practice. Successful procedures have been performed in France (the site of the first par...