In the wake of kidney touts being hauled in for plying their trade in Dharmapuri district, medical experts have said that more cadaver organ donation and widespread dialysis facilities in the public sector could be the answer to beat the problem.
Unlike people who need a heart or a small piece of donor liver, people who have kidney (renal) failure can be sustained through dialysis till they are allotted a suitable organ.
With an astounding 2,796 registered for a kidney on the waitlist, the Tamil Nadu Cadaver Transplant Programme has certainly inspired a lot of confidence in their ability to receive donor organs. “Since the programme began, we have done the most number of cadaver kidney transplants (641) in India and we are looking to increase awareness about organ donation so more people get kidneys,” said Principal Health Secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan.
And it appears to have paid off: While there were 141 transplants in 2012, there have already been 86 transplants done till May 2013.
One major gripe that kidney patients and their kin have is the lack of budget dialysis centres in the private sector and the non-availability of dialysis units in all district headquarter government hospitals.
“The Chief Minister gave the order to set up dialysis units almost two years ago, but a number of factors have impeded the setting up of units in semi-rural places like Nagapattinam and Kanyakumari,” said a senior doctor. He claimed that most nephrologists are unwilling to spend time in smaller hospitals maintaining dialysis units, especially when they have a thriving practice.
“Besides this, lab techs, trained nurse, an RO water plant, all of these are difficult to procure for smaller places,” he added.
Health Department officials explained that they are working on setting up the units as soon as they can and will do so speedily.
Does pity help a patient’s cause with the authorisation committee? It does some times, especially when the patient is almost morbidly sick. “There are times when we get called in at odd hours of the night and patients are pleading with us to allow the transplant. Though we follow all the procedures, we try to speed things up if we believe it is a genuine case,” said a doctor, who has served on the committee.