Aiming to inspire cadaver kidney donors in south Bengal, a health care provider here has been given a go-ahead by the state health department.
The tertiary care hospital has beefed up efforts for the purpose, the authorities claimed today.
In a cadaver donation, an organ is transplanted from a deceased person’s body to an ailing patient.
“This new development is certainly going to contribute to the benefit to nephrology and urology departments at the ground level,” Dr Sheikh Mohammed Yunus, CMOH, West Burdwan, told The Statesman.
“It is very difficult to convince people for such a noble voluntary donation due to multiple obstacles, mainly superstition and religious barriers,” said Dr Satyajit Bose, chairman, The Mission Hospital, which has got the first license for cadaver transplants in south Bengal. He added, “To create mass awareness, we’ve intensified our participation in the dedicated social network groups, inspiring post-death body donation.”
In response, Dr Panchanan Kundu, principal, BSMCH, said, “Durgapur is nearer to us than Kolkata. So, it’d be easier to shift organs from our hospital through a green corridor. Also, it’s quite prospective that the Bankura Sammilani Medical College and Hospital too can be the second choice for this as we’ve a lot of futuristic logistic support here.”
India struggles with an average 1.80 lakh renal failure cases annually and barely 6,000 kidneys are made available by the donors. “Of them, just 10 per cent comes from the cadavers,” claimed nephrologist Dr Rabi Ranjan Sow Mondal of the hospital. He, accompanied by Dr Deepak Kumar and Dr Dipesh Dhoot retrieved a kidney from Ujjawal Chatterjee of Asansol and installed it on his son Partha Chatterjee, a Swastha Sathi beneficiary at the hospital, recently.
In 2023, Bengal recorded its highest figure of deceased organ donations with 16, surpassing its previous record of 15 in 2018, as the National Organ Transplant Programme stated.
Two private medical colleges in Durgapur have received 42 human bodies in five years. Sourav Dutta, secretary, Muktochinta, an organisation dealing with body donations, said, “To ease organ transplants, we need to phase out superstitions first.”