Waitlist for donor organs gets longer in Telangana

Over 14,000 registered with Jeevandan await donor kidney, liver

 

Hyderabad: Critical shortage of donor organs and the disparity between demand and supply is leaving thousands of patients in Telangana with end-stage ailments due to failed organs, with an uncertain future.

Due to severe short supply of cadaver donor organs and unavailability of living-related organ donations, at present, the average waiting time for a donor organ to be available in Telangana is 4 to 5 years.

By the time organs from brain dead patients are available, the most deserving patients, those on top of the waiting list, would have already been dead. There are over 14,000 registered patients with Jeevandan, a State-run organ donation scheme in Telangana, who are desperately seeking donor kidney or liver to undergo lifesaving organ transplant.

Every year, roughly 280 cadaver kidney transplants and 170 liver transplants (cadaver) are taken up in private and government hospitals in Telangana. The living related liver and kidney transplants that are conducted quite frequently in Hyderabad will not be able to bridge the gulf between demand and supply.

A major bottleneck that continues to impact patients in Telangana State who are seeking donor organs is lack of priority for organ donation in government hospitals, which simply avoid declaring critically ill patients with no chance of survival as brain dead. It is only the private corporate hospitals in Hyderabad, which have incentives if they conduct organ transplants, who frequently take-up brain dead declaration.

Government hospitals in Hyderabad including Gandhi Hospital and OGH, and hospitals in districts like MGM Hospital in Warangal do not figure in the top five hospitals that take-up organ donation. It is always the corporate hospitals in Hyderabad like KIMS, Secunderabad with 268 donations, Yashoda Hospitals-Secunderabad with 251 donations, Apollo Hyderabad with 175 donations, Yashoda Malakpet with 156 donations, who are top performers in organ donation.

Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) hospital, which is a quasi-government healthcare facility that charges patients and does not offer free healthcare services, like in Gandhi Hospital, OGH and other public healthcare institutions, has conducted a lowly 31 organ donations while Osmania and Gandhi combined have done just 10 organ donations since 2013.

Senior transplant surgeons at private healthcare facilities in Hyderabad spend long hours with transplant patients to ensure the entire process is a success and there are no infections. They do get a lot of incentives for their efforts.

However, this is not the case for senior surgeons in government hospitals, who never have access to enough incentives, even through Aarogyasri.