Mumbai: The city witnessed its 31st cadaver organ donation after the relatives of a 57-year-old brain-dead woman donated her liver and kidneys on October 17. The woman was admitted to Global Hospital-Parel.
While the donation gave a new lease of life to three patients, Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee (ZTCC) has now formed a group for neurosurgeons and neurologists in the city to boost the cadaver organ donation programme further.
Dr Bharat Shah, general secretary, ZTCC said, “They are the ones who also identify brain-dead patients. We will have a team of neurologists and neurosurgeons from both government and private hospitals in the group,” he said.
In 2021, it was 32. While in 2019, Mumbai saw 76 organ donors, in 2020, the city saw 30 donations.
Dr Shah also said they are going to meet the administrations of both government and private hospitals regularly and find out their progress on organ donation in the hospital.
“The focus will remain on government and municipal hospitals where organ donation is still low,” he said.
ZTCC had started a similar sub-committee on intensivists in the city who meet once a month and review the cadaver organ donations in the hospitals.
“In case a hospital has not managed a cadaver donation or faced a hurdle, the intensivist shares the same and we try to resolve it. The group is for helping and guiding each other to improve organ donations in the city,” he said.
The intensivists team is led by Dr Abdul Samad Ansari, director, of critical care at Nanavati Max Super Speciality Hospital, Vile Parle. “As a team, we are here to handhold and provide clinical mentorship in the areas where others might face a challenge. There is a small window period for one to identify a brain-dead patient and have an organ donation. It is crucial to identify the same. We are also doing education and training in both government and private hospitals to identify brain-dead patients,” said Dr Ansari. The team has intensivists from 35 hospitals.
In Mumbai, as per ZTCC, 3325 patients are waiting for a cadaver kidney while 328 are waiting for a cadaver liver.
The waitlist for small bowels is 7, the pancreas is 12, the heart 28 and the lungs are 9. As many as 6 are waiting for both heart and lung transplants and five patients are waiting for a hand.