The city saw two more cadaver donations recently taking the number of such cases to 15 so far this year.
The city saw two more cadaver donations recently taking the number of such cases to 15 so far this year.
Where did the transplants take place?
One of the cadaver donors was a 55-year-old male who died of brain haemorrhage. "We had the consent for both his kidneys and the liver. But since the liver was unfit for transplant, we didn't retrieve it. The transplant surgery was done at Bombay Hospital. In the second surgery at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, only the liver was retrieved from the donor, a 60-year-old male who also died of brain haemorrhage. These two transplants have taken the number of cadaver donations in the city to 15," said an official from the Zonal Transplant Co-ordination Committee.
How many got new lease of life?
Of all the 15 cadaver donations 10 have taken place in the past two weeks, giving new life to 24 people. "The cadaver donations in the past two weeks have given a new lease of life to sixteen end-stage kidney patients and 8 end-stage liver patients," said the official.
Do public hospitals lag behind?
So far this year, all the cadavers have been received from private hospitals. According to health experts, public hospitals are more likely to get a brain-dead patient than a private hospital. Yet, public hospitals have been lagging behind in cadaver donation. The state health department has set up an expert committee to find out the reason for this.
Dr Rakesh Rai, liver transplant surgeon at Fortis Hospital, said, "It is good to see that the cadaver donations so far this year have seen a significant rise. The best part is that the cadaver donations have come from different hospitals. However, there is a long way to go."
What are the plans now?
The Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee, Mumbai, has decided to strengthen the cadaver donation programme in the 29 non-transplant organ retrieval centres in the Mumbai metropolitan region.
What's the trend of donations in the city?
The trend of cadaver donations has always been uneven in the city. In 2012, there were 26 cadaver donations, because the issue was highly publicised following Vilasrao Deshmukh's death due to liver failure. In 2014, the city saw 41 cadaver donations that benefited 107 people.
As transplant is the only cure for patients with organ failure, health experts feel brain death should be recognised and donations should be promoted. While Mumbai has been lagging behind, Chennai manages to get over 80 cadaver donations each year.
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