BENGALURU: Karnataka Health Minister Sudhakar announced that organ retrieval centres will be inaugurated at Bangalore Medical College and more will be opened in medical colleges across the state, starting with four colleges initially. He said the government will tie up with NIMHANS to enable organ transplantation, as the mental health institute sees a lot of brain deaths. He was speaking at the inauguration of Sparsh Hospital's multi-organ transplant centre on Friday, said to be the first of its kind in Karnataka.
"In India, around 5 lakh people die each year as they do not get organs at the right time or the procedure is too expensive and there are too many logistical issues. Many people suffer lung failure during COVID-19 and need transplantation, which is rare in our country. Only four percent of people are able to get organs, the rest suffer," Sudhakar said.
He highlighted that organ failure cases are rising in India and that there are around 80,000 people in need of a liver but only 1500 donors are available.
"Blood donation suffered during the pandemic. People need to understand that they can donate organs to eight people, post their death. We must donate blood during our life and organs after our death," he added.
He said machines needed for organ transplantation are not being manufactured in India and have to be procured from outside. Another challenge is that organ transplantation is considered a taboo due to lack of trust. He urged Dr Kumud Dhital, Program and Surgical Director, Heart & Lung Transplant, Sparsh Hospital, to train government surgeons in organ transplantation and promised to iron out any bottlenecks in the regulatory process of organ retrieval and transplantation.
He noted that advanced nations allocate 10-20 percent of their GDP to healthcare, while in India it is only 2 percent.
Sparsh Hospital multi-organ transplant centre will be located at its RR Nagar Unit, Mysore Road. The hospital in a press statement said, "The deceased organ donation rate in India, at less than one percent per million population, is a major handicap and translates to less than one person per million opting to donate their organs. Superstitions and stigma, lack of transplant coordinators and lack of required infrastructure for certifying and maintaining brain-dead patients are the reasons behind the low donation numbers in India. While lack of organ donation is one side of the story, the other is the lack of required processes, skilled experts, hospital infrastructure and the lack of sufficient examples of long-term organ transplant survivors in the community that become the role models for organ transplantation."