According to the doctors, the daughter had high blood pressure which led to kidney failure. "She was advised a transplant. With absence of any immediate family donor apart from her mother, she had to undergo dialysis thrice a week," said Rao.
It was a tough decision that a 45-year-old woman had to take, that of accepting her 75-year-old mother's kidney. The mother, a resident of Kurla, had to convince her daughter a lot that even after donating a kidney, she will stay alive.
"The daughter was not ready to accept her mother's kidney because of her age. It took us months before she got convinced for the transplant," said Dr BR Ramesh Rao, nephrologist at Kohinoor Hospital, where the transplant was done.
According to the doctors, the daughter had high blood pressure which led to kidney failure. "She was advised a transplant. With absence of any immediate family donor apart from her mother, she had to undergo dialysis thrice a week," said Rao.
While she registered herself for a cadaver donor, her mother, along with the doctors, continued with their efforts to convince her for the live kidney transplant. "At 75, her mother had no lifestyle-related diseases. She was fit for donating the organ. However, the daughter thought that by accepting it, she was risking her mother's life," added Rao.
While senior citizens can be organ donors, it's been found that many doctors are conservative about living kidney donors. According to Johns Hopkins research, nearly three quarters of transplant centres have not accepted organs from people older than 70.
Mumbai doctors, however, think otherwise. They believe that if kidney function of senior citizens (aged above 60) is as good as any other person, then they are fit to donate. Doctors say around 40% of kidney donors in Mumbai are people above 60 years.
"The elderly, especially women, form a large part of our donor pool. They are the true champions and need to be lauded for their invaluable sacrifice," said Dr Bharat Shah, nephrologist at Global Hospital and trustee of Narmada Kidney Foundation.
Rising numbers
Up to 4 lakh patients suffer from chronic end-stage kidney disease in India.
Only 1% of patients get a kidney transplant.
Patients with diabetes and high blood pressure tend to damage their kidneys.
Abuse of pain killers for aches leads to deterioration of kidney.
Close to 600 patients are registered with the ZTCC to receive a kidney. The number of patients waiting is up to 10 times more than those who end up receiving one.
India has close to 1,200 nephrologists practising across the country. There are 2,500 dialysis centres, with approximately 20,000 dialysis machines, predominantly in the private sector (90%) and mainly concentrated in cities, especially metros. There are around 65,000 patients undergoing hemodialysis at these centres.
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