Lack of coordination reason for low organ transplantation: Experts

Even as the city saw a spurt in the number of organ transplantation this week, experts say that despite having the necessary infrastructure, lack of coordination between the parties involved continues to be the cause of the abysmally low rates of transplantation in the state.

On Tuesday night, a brain-dead donor's liver was transplanted to a recipient at Jupiter Hospital in Thane. The 42-year-old who was suffering from liver cirrhosis was registered with the Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee in April and had been following up with the hospital for the past few months.

There have been only 10 liver transplant operations in the city in the last year, with the last one being conducted almost two months ago.

"There is a whole set of unnecessary rules that hinder the progress of organ transplantation in the state.

"For instance, if the organ transplant coordinator is unavailable, the surgeon involved will not be allowed to take a call on the transplant, even though he may be aware of all the necessary details of the operation. As a result, the needy is deprived of timely transplant. Getting the transplant done on time is one of the most important aspects of the procedure," said Dr Ajay Thakkar, CEO of Jupiter Hospital.

The number of lung transplants in the city too has been few since the country saw the first lung transplantation surgery in Chennai

in 1997.

Since then, there have been two such successful surgeries in the city, the first which happened only last month and the second on Wednesday.

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