Organ donation: Positive start in 2019 gives hope

  • | Monday | 11th February, 2019

KOLKATA: The wheel of organ donation started rolling in the state only in 2010 when the city saw its first deceased organ donation. The state recorded the second deceased organ donation in 2012 — the only donation that year.After a four-year lull, Kolkata witnessed five organ donations in 2016. But the next year was a damp squib with the city recording only one organ donation.The real boom happened in 2018 when the organ donation in West Bengal hit the double digit. But, there was no organ donation next year. The state witnessed a record-breaking 15 organ donations, including seven heart transplants.

KOLKATA: The wheel of organ donation started rolling in the state only in 2010 when the city saw its first deceased organ donation. In February that year, the family of Joydeb Pal donated his organs after the Birbhum farmer was declared brain dead at SSKM Hospital. But, there was no organ donation next year. The state recorded the second deceased organ donation in 2012 — the only donation that year.After a four-year lull, Kolkata witnessed five organ donations in 2016. But the next year was a damp squib with the city recording only one organ donation.The real boom happened in 2018 when the organ donation in West Bengal hit the double digit. The state witnessed a record-breaking 15 organ donations, including seven heart transplants. In two cases of heart transplant, the organs were flown into the city. Also, on one occasion, the longest green corridor was created in eastern India to transport organs from Durgapur The beginning of 2019 has been encouraging with two organ donations taking place in January within a gap of four days.“We are holding awareness campaigns, interacting with all stakeholders, including the government and private hospitals. We will increase such activities, work on ironing out hiccups and improve the coordination,” said Dr Tamal Kanti Ghosh, state nodal officer on organ donation.The health department began this year’s charity at its home, when many health officials pledged their organs at a recent programme held in Swasthya Bhawan. Similar activities, including a workshop for doctors manning CCU, will follow. An official said these doctors are the ones who can identify a braindead patient.“The rising number of private as well as government hospitals applying for organ retrieval and transplant surgeries indicates that the times are changing as far as deceased organ donation is concerned,” said a health department official.Despite efforts, there have been cases where organs like heart and liver had gone waste in the absence of a suitable recipient. “This points to the need for better coordination and streamlining of the organ allocation system,” said a source.“The Tamil Nadu government engages a grief counsellor and a transplant coordinator to each hospital in addition to funding poor patients for transplant surgeries. This is why the drive has gained so much momentum there,” said Dr Nandkishore Kapadia, heart and lung transplant surgeon at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Mumbai.“There will always be teething issues in states that have started working on organ donation. But these initial problems will get resolved in the course of time,” added Kapadia.

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