From last yr’s 16 to 14 this year, Kol sees dip in organ donation
Times of India | 30 December 2024
Kolkata: After achieving the best deceased organ donation record in 2023, this year the movement took a slightly sluggish pace. While Kolkata recorded 16 donations last year, this year there have been 14 donations so far, with the last donor being 22-year-old Prasad Kumar Halder, who proved to be Santa for three individuals by gifting them the gift of life last Friday, a few days ahead of Christmas.
Those involved in the organ donation movement said the prolonged cease work by junior doctors impacted the tally of organ donations this year but are hopeful of better achievements in 2025 to save more lives. The 14 donations in 2024 ensured at least 36 individuals had hope for a fresh lease of life. Thirty-six vital organs, including the heart, lung, liver, and kidneys, apart from tissues like skin and cornea, were used on a number of patients.
The biggest highlight was a leap in the transplant surgery journey when a heart and lung were transplanted into a teenager in May at the Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education & Research (IPGMER) & SSKM Hospital. This was perhaps the first instance of a public hospital in the country conducting a transplant of both the heart and lung to a single recipient.
It was a good start, with 11 donations recorded by July. Just when ROTTO (East) had started working harder, the RG Kar rape-murder horror slammed the brakes when junior doctors went on complete cease work in protest.
"For about three months, the senior doctors were completely caught up focusing on patient care due to the junior doctors' cease work. Organ donation and transplant require various teams of senior doctors. With the extra workload they were taking up, filling the void left by junior doctors, it was impossible for them to take out time for organ donation and transplant," said an administrator at IPGMER. Like other years, the highest number of organ donations emerged from this govt hospital, also the only govt hospital in Bengal from where organ donation is generated.
Of the total 16 donations in 2023, 10 donations happened before August, nine out of 14 in 2022, eight out of 10 in 2021, two out of six in 2020, four out of 10 in 2019, and two out of 15 in 2018. With half of the 14 donations originating from IPGMER's Trauma Care Centre (TCC), it was the highest contributor, followed by Apollo and Manipal Mukundapur (AMRI earlier) with two each to their credit, while Medica, ILS Dumdum, and Command Hospital contributed with one each.
"Apart from the seven, there were five more brain-dead declarations in the TCC. In one case, the organs were found unfit for transplant, while in the rest, the family did not consent to the donation. We will be working harder for better deceased organ donation this coming year," said an official at ROTTO (East). The state also shared organs with hospitals in cities like Delhi, Gurugram, and Chennai, where organs were flown out and transplanted to patients in those hospitals.
Deceased organ donation debuted in Bengal in 2010 at IPGMER with a lone donation for the year. The second donation came two years later in 2012. There was a lull for the next three years. Since 2016, there have been donations each year without interruption, even during the pandemic.
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