More women donated to aid live organ transplants in Maharashtra

MUMBAI: As we gear up to celebrate a gender inclusive and neutral world on International Women’s Day, these figures may come as a grim reality. Data from the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) shows that 171 (63%) women donated organs to facilitate 270 live organ transplants in Maharashtra in 2016. Though representative of only a slice of live transplants, the numbers have reinforced the dominant gender bias in organ transplants.

The trend is not just limited to one government department but almost all major transplant centres in the city. Jaslok hospital at Pedder Road had carried out 64 kidney transplants in 2016, of which 50 were female donors. At Kokilaben Hospital in Andheri, 68% kidney and liver donors were women. The gender imbalance is glaring at Fortis Hospital, Mulund, where 11 of the 14 kidney donors were women.

Doctors say it is always a mother, wife or sister who is the first to offer an organ. This is despite the fact that removing a slice of liver from a healthy individual often comes with its own share of risks. The dangers are considered less when it’s a kidney.

“The gender bias is well-documented yet intriguing. We don’t know if women are more empathetic or simply more altruistic,” said Dr Gauri Rathod, the state’s nodal officer for organ transplants.

Liver transplant surgeon Dr Ravi Mohanka said the bias could be due to economic, social and even medical reasons. “More men tend to have liver disease as alcoholic consumption is more prevalent. Secondly, women seem to donate more as the social norms expect them to step up in such a situation,” he said. Medically too, fewer women suffer from fatty liver and thereby end up being fit to donate.

But it’s not always altruism, says a senior government doctor. “A huge fault lies in celebrating women’s sacrifice. It has almost reached a stage where the imbalance has stopped bothering us. There are definitely cases where women are coerced into donating,” he said. DMER head Dr Pravin Shingare however said they keep a hawk’s eyes while granting approvals when a woman has recently married and is expected to donate an organ, or there is an unusual age or economic disparity between spouses.

Things though are changing, said nephrologist Dr Sharad Sheth, who believes men too have started donating for their loves ones. “It is no longer unusual for a husband to donate for his wife,” he said. “Unusual is a case we did recently, where a woman gave an organ to her daughter-in-law,” he said.