The past year has ushered in good news for the ill, with organ donation seeing a 100% rise in 2014 as compared to 2013. The number of people who volunteered to donate organs after their loved ones were declared brain dead has increased exponentially, according to figures provided by the Zonal Transplant Co-ordination Committee (ZTCC).
In 2013, 36 kidneys were harvested for transplant from brain-dead patients, 2014 saw up to 71 kidneys being donated. Similarly, in the case of liver donation and transplant, which is a complex procedure, the rise was close to 100% — 19 cadaver livers harvested in 2013, 36 in 2014.
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. Also, over 600 patients in the city who suffer from end-stage liver disease need an urgent transplant, only 36 did in 2014. The number of people in the waiting list for a liver is 15 times more than those who ended up getting one.
Even as kidneys and livers are being accepted for transplants in city hospitals, they are yet not equipped to deal with lung and heart transplants. The infrastructure for heart transplants is robust in South Indian cities, for example Chennai.
While in the early years, it was difficult to convince the family of the deceased to donate their dead kin's organs, awareness regarding organ donation has picked up pace in the past year, said Dr Suchita Desai, transplant co-ordinator at PD Hinduja Hospital in Mahim. "For family to accept that their loved one is brain-dead is difficult. We are sensitising family and staffers through lectures and counselling so that more people come forward to donate organs."
Good Samaritan
Khar resident Malini Bakshi, 58, collapsed in her kitchen while cooking. A teacher of Gujarati language in a school, Bakshi had prepared a will saying her organs be donated after her death. In July 2014, after she succumbed to a stroke, her 35-year-old daughter Hetal fulfilled her wish. "Her liver, kidneys, eyes and skin were donated," said Hetal.
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