Awareness about organ donation can save many lives

In most cases, relatives of those in serious condition are not told of organ transplantation possibilities

Thota Manikanta became a hero in his death after his vital organs were transplanted in patients in Chennai, Hyderabad and Guntur on Friday.

But, it has once again brought into focus the lack of awareness about organ donation.

Only some hospitals inform of the possibilities of cadaver organ donation to relatives of those admitted in critical state and declared as brain dead.

In the case of Manikanta, doctors from a private hospital explained the scheme to his family members. Incidentally, NRI Hospitals, Mangalagiri, came forward to perform the delicate surgery. “We have done more than 70 kidney transplants in our hospital. But, harvesting so many vital organs required a lot of preparation, and we took the task quite seriously. Our board, too, supported us by procuring expensive theatre equipment.

There were a lot of procedures to be carried out at the quickest possible time,” said a senior surgeon at the hospital.

The united Andhra Pradesh government had introduced a scheme for cadaver organ transplantation, called ‘Jeevandan’, in 2010.

The NTR University of Health Sciences, Vijayawada, is the Appropriate Authority for Cadaver Transplantation (AACT) for AP.

Voluntary organ donors can register themselves with the Jeevandan scheme.

“We decided to scale up campaign on organ donation. Trauma centres in hospitals deal with a lot of emergencies, and trained personnel should be appointed to counsel those whose relatives are admitted in serious condition,” said co-chairman of AACT and GGH Superintendent T. Venugopala Rao.

There are only two hospitals in Guntur district (NRI Hospitals and Guntur City Hospitals) that are registered with the Jeevandan Cadaver Transplant Programme. While there are 10 hospitals in AP registered under the programme, not a single government teaching hospital is equipped with cadaver organ transplant facilities.

“We have applied for kidney transplant at GGH, Guntur. The Podili Prasad GGH super specialty block will have four modular OT complexes with facilities for cadaver organ transplantation,” said Dr. Rao.