TIL Desk Lucknow/ The lives of at least 5 lakh people are on stake every year in India who are not likely to receive an organ donation as the rate of voluntary organ donation in India is one of the lowest in the world. The rate of organ donation is low primarily due to lack of awareness, religious-cultural beliefs, misconceptions and prejudices. Due to all these reasons, the wait for any eligible organ recipient gets longer. Organ donation is the removal of tissues or organs from a living person or immediately after his/ her death and transplanting that organ into the body of a patient in need. People of all ages can donate organs.
Dr. Mayank Somani, CEO & MD- Apollomedics Superspeciality Hospital, Lucknow shared an important piece of information regarding organ donation, “Liver received after the donor’s death can be divided into two parts which can save lives of two recipients. Similarly, the lungs and Kidneys can be transplanted in two human bodies in need of the organ. Whereas by transplanting heart and pancreas in one recipient each, their life can also be saved. In this way, even after death, a person can give life upto eight people.
Dr (Prof) Amit Gupta, Director of Nephrology and Kidney Transplant, Apollomedics Hospital shares an important information, if a healthy person donates one of his kidneys, a patient in need of kidney transplant can get a new life. A normal healthy person, can lead a normal life with one kidney.
According to the Union Health Ministry, about 2 lakh persons suffer from kidney failure every year, while only about 6000 of these are able to get kidney for transplant. Similarly, 2 lakh patients die every year due to liver failure or liver cancer, of which about 10-15% can be saved by timely liver transplant. In India, about 30 thousand liver transplants are needed every year, but only 1500 get an organ through a transplant. Similarly, every year about 50,000 people are in need of a heart transplant but only 10 to 15 thousand are only possible. There are over one lakh people eligible recipients for cornea transplant but only 25,000 such people are able to receive a transplant.
Prof Amit Gupta further said, “Recently, after an accident, a 21-year-old youth had turned brain dead and the family decided to donate the body on humanitarian grounds giving life to people in need. Apollomedics is now the first hospital in Uttar Pradesh to have performed organ transplant for the first time from a cadaver. Our doctors have performed five successful organ transplants within 72 hours, including two liver and three kidney transplants.”
Dr Mayank Somani (MD & CEO Apollomedics) expressed the gratitude towards the team of super-specialist doctors and para-medics who successfully carried out these transplant surgeries. Kidney transplantation was conducted by the team lead by Dr (Prof) Amit Gupta, Director of Nephrology and Kidney Transplant, Apollomedics Hospital. Dr Shahzad Alam, Dr Adittya K Sharma, Dr (Brig) Anand Srivastava, Dr Shashikant Gupta, Dr Sujeet Shekhar Sinha and Dr Jony Agarwal were part of the team. Similar Liver Transplant surgery was conducted under the leadership of Dr Ashish Kumar Mishra. Dr Waliullah Siddiqui, Dr Rajiv Ranjan Singh & Dr Suhang Verma were part of.the team.
Dr Somani further said, “Apart from NCR, Apollomedics is the first private hospital in UP to be licensed for heart and lung transplants along with other organ transplants. Apollomedics hospital has an in-house team of superspecialist doctors available 24×7, who save the life of the patients by taking quick decision on the need for transplant and implementing the procedure in time.”
