Mumbai: There has been a 30.86% rise in the number of organ donations this year until September 30 as compared to the corresponding period last year. On October 23, the most recent lease of life was given by a 66-year-old brain-dead patient admitted at a Mulund hospital. The kin consented to donate a kidney, liver, and cornea.
According to data provided by the Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee (ZTCC), Mumbai, 35 patients donated 106 organs, including kidneys, liver, heart, lung and pancreas between January 1 and September 30. During the same period in 2022, 81 organs were transplanted from 31 donors.
Organ donation makes a comeback after Covid
ZTCC General Secretary Dr Bharat Shah said that organ donation is returning to pre-Covid time and several measures taken to boost the life-saving initiative seem to have yielded results. The number of donations was badly hit in 2020 which witnessed only 30 transplantations compared to 76 in 2019. The noble practice again gained pace as the city witnessed 47 donations in 2022 and 31 in 2021.
ZTCC has actively collaborated with intensivists and neurologists in city hospitals to enhance cadaver donations, creating sub-committees of intensivists, which undertake monthly reviews.
A similar sub-committee of neurologists is also at work. “To boost cadaver donations, we have collaborated with intensivists and neurologists in detecting brain-dead patients. We are also in discussions with the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences to include organ donation in its curriculums,” Dr Shah said.
The need to spread awareness about organ donations
However, experts believe that still there is a need to create awareness when it comes to organ donations. “India is ranked as the second largest organ donor nation, however, if we see the statistics closely, this is the case of living donors. If we see deceased donor statistics, we are not even in the top 20.” In the last five years, there has been a steady increase in transplants from deceased donors or brain stem dead persons. “However, we need to double the number of donations as Mumbai is a leading city,” said Dr Shruti Tandan from the Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre.
Year-wise donations
2022 47
2021 31
2020 30
2019 76
India ranks 2nd in terms of living donors
But it's not even in the top 20 when it comes to deceased donors
