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For PGI patients needing organs, the wait is long and painful
Notably, PGIMER has reported a significant backlog of patients awaiting organ transplantation, with the waiting list dragging all the way to 5,610 individuals
For Manwinder Pal Singh, 41-year-old patient from Fatehgarh Sahib, the wait for a kidney transplant has felt like a lifetime. He had been relying on dialysis since 2018, the year he also registered for a kidney transplant at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER).
“Given my terminal illness, I have no alternative but to wait for a transplant. However, patients like me face immense struggle awaiting an organ, with many also losing their lives before their arriva,” Manwinder says, adding that awareness and education about organ donation is crucial to do away with the seemingly perennial organ shortage.
Ranjit Singh, 73, a resident of Kurali, Punjab, has also been awaiting a cornea transplant since 2022. “Collaboration between public and private sectors can help streamline organ donation better,” he says.
Many others like Manwinder and Ranjit believe that efforts should be made to educate the public about the importance of organ donation, dispel myths and misconceptions, and provide information on the process of organ donation.
Addressing the issue, Charan Kamal, a forensic expert at Civil Hospital in Ludhiana, has suggested that amending the organ transplant law could potentially result in saving lives.
Notably, PGIMER has reported a significant backlog of patients awaiting organ transplantation, with the waiting list dragging all the way to 5,610 individuals. Among these patients, approximately 70% (3,315) are in urgent need of kidney transplants. With a waiting list of 2,200, cornea is next on the list.
Donors, however, are far and few between. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, an agriculture development officer, and wife Supreet, a teacher, while speaking to HT, recalled the incident where they lost their 39-day-old daughter, Ababat Kaur Sandhu, who had passed away due to a congenital and rare disease. The family donated her kidneys.
Sandhu, whose voice trembled, said a lot of work still needs to be done in encouraging organ donation. Echoing earlier sentiments, he said awareness held the key as the public still has a limited understanding of the subject.
He went on to highlight the lack of multiple centres for cadaveric organ donation, saying having only one centre at PGIMER may result in families rejecting the idea of organ donation during times of grief, as it may have been inconvenient or unfeasible for them to travel far.
A PGIMER professor not wishing to be named, on being asked about the same, agreed that the government should reduce dependency on PGIMER and instead, make efforts to involve other institutions to maximise the potential transplant efforts.
Notably, PGIMER serves as the Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO) for the northern region, including Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and other neighbouring areas.
The Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act (THOTA) came into force in 1994 and was amended in 2011. Under this Act, the government set up the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) in 2014. It regulates procurement and distribution of organs, along with its five regional (ROTTO) and various state transplant organisations (SOTTO).
