Rahul Thackeray, who has been suffering from the disease for the last one year, requires dialysis thrice a week. In the last three years, 2011 saw the lowest number of cadaver donations.
For 16-year-old Rahul Thackeray, who is suffering from a disease wherein his liver generates stones that gets accumulated in kidney and therefore requires both kidney and liver transplantation, there is no end to his wait for an organ donor.
His wait is only getting longer, thanks to lack of awareness among people about cadaver donation.
Thackeray, who has been suffering from the disease for the last one year, requires dialysis thrice a week. In the last three years, 2011 saw the lowest number of cadaver donations.
“The biggest hurdle is changing the mindset of people. They are not at all keen on idea of cadaver donation. In December, we had hopes of getting cadaver donations, but some or the other family member didn’t keen on the idea. On December 31, we had cadaver donation intimation where the woman’s daughter agreed but her husband denied,” said an official from the Zonal Transplant and Coordination Committee (ZTCC). While 2009 saw 36 cadaver donations, the number dipped to 20 in 2010. There were only 9 cadaver donations in 2011.
The Zonal Transplant and Coordination Committee have now taken it as a challenge to create awareness about cadaver donations in the city.
Citing reasons for the dip in number of organ donations, Dr Sujata Patwardhan, general secretary of the ZTCC, said: “While public hospitals are not pro-active in organ donation programmes, some private hospitals, which were active in identification in 2009, have not identified a single cadaver in 2010.” The registered public hospitals with ZTCC include Sion Hospital, KEM Hospital and JJ Hospital.
The ZTCC has set a two-month time period where they plan to spread awareness on cadaver donation. According to the plan, they are going to contact each and every small clinic in the city to help them spread the awareness.
“Most of the donors come from accident cases. And that’s why it will help if the police and doctors in the ICU can successfully identify a brain-dead and initiate steps for organ donation,” said the ZTCC official.
According to cadaver donations guidelines, once cadavers are identified through cadaver donor compatibility tests, social workers play a significant role in convincing the family to agree for cadaver organ donation.
Once the family agrees and the necessary paper work is completed, doctors proceed with harvesting of the organs from the cadaver patient and the organs can be transplanted to patients registered on the ZTCC list.
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