Orange City Hospital all set to start skin bank soon
One such skin bank is proposed at Orange City Hospital and Research Institute (OCHRI) with financial support from Rotary Club of Nagpur and technical backing from National Burn Centre and Skin Bank at Airoli, Mumbai.
One such skin bank is proposed at Orange City Hospital and Research Institute (OCHRI) with financial support from Rotary Club of Nagpur and technical backing from National Burn Centre and Skin Bank at Airoli, Mumbai. Dr Sunil Keswani, director of Airoli Bank, who has been running this bank for past five years making it perhaps the oldest in the country, told TOI that there was no harm in OCHRI starting the bank for patients as there was no illegality in running an institution for which there is no competent regulatory authority in place. Dr Keswani, who is also a noted plastic surgeon, was in city for MASICON 2015.
The country, as of now, has a skin bank at Sion Hospital for eleven years, a bank at Pune at Surya Hospital, another at a hospital in Indore and two in the offing, one each at Coimbatore and Bhubaneswar, besides Dr Keswani’s bank. “But none of these actually has a formal clearance from their states. We can’t afford to wait for lengthy and cumbersome procedures of law formation, which need clearance in both houses of the legislature, which takes months. When the central government made amendments to the act and included it in it, there is nothing illegal or unethical in starting banks until a proper authority is created. In fact, since I have signed an MOU with OCHRI, I am advising the hospital to start the bank immediately,” he said.
Reacting positively to this, OCHRI medical director Dr Anup Marar said he would start the skin bank in his hospital in maximum a week or a fortnight’s time. Dr Samir Jahagirdar, plastic surgeon and burn expert at OCHRI, told TOI that the hospital has applied for inspection of the bank to the health department on the suggestion of the zonal transplant coordination committee many times from July to October. But an RTI query revealed that there is no licensing or permitting authority.
Dr Jahagirdar said the bank missed five opportunities where relatives of donors had approached the hospital on their own. “Even today, we have a mother and her two daughters who could be treated with such grafts,” he said.
Mumbai also has two skin collection centres at BCS Hospital in Andheri and Bhakti Vedanta Hospital on Mira Road. They harvest skin, store it in 80% glycerol and send it to banks through a courier in an ice box at 4 degrees Celsius. “Since my bank already has a MOU with EURO Skin Bank, we are following all standard operating procedures following international norms. Even OCHRI would follow all international norms,” said Dr Keswani.
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