Lucknow: City hospital celebrates 100 successful organ transplants

LUCKNOW: Celebrating 100 successful organ transplants at its centre, authorities at the Apollomedics Hospitals on Thursday stressed on the need for awareness about organ donation.

“Despite efforts in this direction, a huge demand and supply gap exists. In fact, the organ donation rate in India is merely 0.08 per million population, which is an iota when compared to countries like Croatia where it is 36.5 per million population,” said Dr Anupam Sibal, group medical director and senior paediatric gastroenterologist of Apollo Hospitals.

Claiming that the Apollo’s transplant facility was one of the world’s most comprehensive programmes offering a host of state-of-the-art services, Sibal said that in 2021, barely 1519 organ transplant procedures were organised with the donation made by 552 persons.

MD and CEO, Dr Mayank Somani stated that as many as 94 kidneys and 13 liver transplants have been conducted at the centre in three years. Of the total, just four were cadaveric while others were in the live category. “We have also obtained the licence for heart and lung transplant and we hope that this will completely change the landscape of healthcare in UP,” he said.

Head of nephrology and kidney transplant, Dr Amit Gupta, stressed on the need to address organ scarcity. “In India, about 2,20,000 patients are in need of kidney transplants but only 9,500 such transplants are performed every year. Many of these patients die waiting for a suitable cadaver kidney. Factors such as lack of awareness (about brain death), religious beliefs, and inadequate transplantation centres affect the country's organ donation programme. Cadaveric transplants play a crucial role in significantly addressing organ scarcity. Through these transplants, we can offer a new lease of life to patients who are waiting for organ transplantation.”