Mumbai: The King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital – the biggest civic-run medical facility – decided to appoint three critical care unit (CCU) specialists, who are adept at handling serious patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), with an aim to increase the number of cadaver organ donors. These specialists will be hired within the next two months.
KEM Dean, Dr Sangeeta Rawat said they want to increase the number of organ donations but decided to appoint dedicated intensivists or experts considering the load of patients in the ICU. “There are several measures which need to be followed if patients are brain dead, including the need to maintain their blood pressure and heart function. The CCU specialists will ensure they don't 'crash' before the organs are harvested,” Dr Rawat said.
NOTTO & aviation ministry working on designing prototype boxes
Moreover, to reduce the costs of organ transportation by a big margin, the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, along with the aviation ministry, is working on designing prototype boxes which carry organs on planes. NOTTO Director Dr Krishan Kumar said the boxes will be designed specifically for organs and it is one of the initiatives they are undertaking to reduce the demand-supply gap in organ donations, considering the time frame required to harvest or transport organs. “We have seen that the green corridor is being prepared to transport organsfrom one state to another in an emergency. But making a customised or prototype box which will be used for organ transportation in a plane within a time frame is needed,” said Dr Kumar.
Dr Kumar further said they have completed the first stage of the process with the help of experts that include transplant surgeons. There will be two types of boxes – one for all organs and the other specifically for hands. Moreover, authorities are also planning to plant a tree in the name of every cadaver donor.
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