By Veena Adige
It’s no easy choice. But it could save the life of someone close to you.
Three-year-old Suma was rushed to hospital with a head injury due to an accident. Although she was declared brain dead on arrival, her heart and lungs were kept functioning through life-saving equipment. She would die if the equipment were disconnected.
Her parents were approached by the hospital’s transplant co-ordinator. Faced with the painful truth about their daughter’s brain-dead condition, they made the difficult choice of donating Suma’s internal organs. Suma gave life to about five people who benefited from her kidneys, her corneas and other parts of her little body.
Why Transplantation? The human body is extraordinary. When in good health and spirits, it can overcome several diseases. At other times, a slight infection could result in death.
Yet, there are thousands of people whose bodies and organs have been seriously infected or damaged. In order to continue living, they need an organ transplant.
Statistically speaking, one donor body can benefit about 20 to 60 people by either improving the recipients’ lifestyle or, in some cases, give them life itself.
Body part donations can be made while the donor is alive or posthumously (after her death). Organs and tissues that can be donated are kidneys, corneas, liver, blood, heart, heart valves, skin, bone marrow, lungs and the pancreas.
It’s No Simple Matter Dr R K Hariharan, from Apollo Hospitals in Madras, single-handedly pioneered the transplant co-ordination programme at the hospital in 1995. He says, “Everything has to be above board and transparent. Family members should be given the choice of whether they want to donate or not. The consent rate at Apollo Hospital has been 70 to 80 per cent.”
In India, kidney transplants are done in the P D Hinduja National Hospital, KEM, Sion Hopital and Jaslok Hospital, Mumbai, and Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune. Heart transplants are done in Madras, Delhi and other places.
Ruby Hall, Pune, did the first kidney transplant in 1989 and to date, 348 have been undertaken. Out of this, 24 were from cadavers. The success rate is as high as 80 per cent.
Dr A G Huprikar, Dr D Roy and Dr A Sadre, nephrologists and transplant physicians, conduct the kidney transplant operations. Dr Roy of Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune, says, “Indians are prone to diabetes and this is the cause, in most cases, of renal failure. Every year, there are at least 150 new patients in Pune alone.”
An Emotional Issue Dr A G Huprikar, who did the first kidney transplant in Pune, says, “It is becoming more difficult to get a relative’s kidneys because as families get nuclear, relatives move further away. Additionally, male patients get donors a lot easier than women. The irony is — the donors are mostly women — mothers, daughters, sisters or wives.”
Organ donation is an emotional issue for both patient and donor. Sometimes, the patient feels guilty of depriving a dear one of one of her organs. At other times, the patient grows to love the donor more.
“Several physical and psychological tests are done on the donor before the removal of any body part,” says Dr Sadre, The donor has to be healthy and not suffer from blood pressure problems, infections like HIV or diseases like cancer.
Doctors cite an interesting case a few years ago when a 70-year-old woman died at Jaslok Hospital in Mumbai. Her relatives were keen on donating her organs. However, not many hospitals were willing to take an elderly person’s organs. Dr Bharat Shah of Hinduja Hospital says, “We took the woman’s body organs and transplanted both her kidneys into a 35-year-old man. It has been two years now and he is doing well."
"There was another case at a hospital in Dombivili, Mumbai. Though the hospital was not registered for body organ donations, the relatives of a 65-year-old man were keen on organ donation. A team of doctors rushed to Dombivili and harvested the kidneys, which are now in another patient’s body.”
Getting Legal And Technical