‘Organ failure does not mean that it only happens in cities, but in villages as well’.
NEW DELHI
Around 1.5 lakh Indians die every year because they are unaware of the fact that they need an organ transplant and about 50,000 patients are on the waiting list for organ donation, according to the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO).
“We have two types of requirements: projected requirements and actual requirements. The actual requirements are those people who get the system, and the projected requirements are those who just perish without any treatment. So, it is estimated that we have close to 150,000 such patients dying every year,” said Dr Sunil Shroff, past president of the Indian Society of Organ Transplantation (ISOT).
Responding to the question on why the numbers are this huge, Dr Shroff said: “Because of poor access to treatment, tertiary care is not available to everyone; we know that 70% of the population lives in villages. So, access to treatment is lacking. Organ failure does not mean that it only happens in cities, but in villages as well.”
Dr Sourabh Sharma, Manager, ORGAN India Support Groups, said: “The rural area health sector is majorly dependent on government hospitals, and infrastructure is completely lacking. Though we lack primary healthcare in many places, it’s very hard for these people even to know that they require organ transplants.”
“However, we are trying to create awareness with collaboration with government and private organizations through our sessions and seminars in different Sakhi groups and schools, but there are miles to go,” he added.
The data for 2022 says that only 941 people donated organs, but 5 lakh people need organs, which shows there is a huge gap in demand and supply. According to the World Health Organisation, only around 0.01% of people in India donate their organs after death. Some of the reasons behind such a pathetic number are a lack of public awareness, religious or superstitious beliefs among people, and strict laws.
Responding to that, Dr Shroff said, “We have close to 110,000 brain-dead patients, and one person can give life to eight people. But we have only 700–800 hospitals that are authorised for transplants and donations. So, not only awareness but also medical facilities are required to fill this gap. The other problem is that there›s nobody in the ICU many times who can actually speak to the family and create awareness about organ donation. So, there›s no support from the system or hospital.
Dr Rahul Chandola, senior consultant for CTVS and Heart Lung Transplant Specialist, said: “Organ transplantation requires a lot of resources, in terms of medicines, instruments, and the logistics of donor procurement, as well as the operation itself. The other challenge is perioperative care, including intraoperative and postoperative care, which is quite intense and requires a lot of very special expertise in managing high-risk patients. And the work carries on even after the patient›s discharge.”
“The maximum number of donations that happen in India come from living donors. The maximum number of organs are kidneys; so, we do close to 12,000 kidney transplants in a year. Okay, we do 4,000 liver transplants in a year, mostly from the living. And about 20% of our transplants come from disease.”