Transplantation

During a transplant, a healthy donated kidney is placed deep under your skin near your hip bone.

It is estimated that every year over 100, 000 people are diagnosed to have kidney failure in India. Due to various reasons, including the non-availability of organs, only about 2,500 kidney transplants are done.

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During a transplant, a healthy donated kidney is placed deep under your skin near your hip bone. In some cases, the non working kidneys may be removed to control infection or high blood pressure.

Transplantation is the most “natural” solution to kidney failure. However, the National Kidney Foundation believes that only about 50% of dialysis patients meet the physical requirements for a transplant, or choose this treatment option.

Where and when can you get a kidney?

Before 1995, India used to be the great kidney bazaar. Poor people would be enticed to sell a kidney for what seemed to them a huge amount (a few thousand rupees). When the Transplantation of Human Organs Act was passed, it is a little difficult to get a kidney donor.

There are only three sources:

A blood relation: This is ideal. You can get the kidney from someone who is alive. The operation should be performed at a time suited to both donor and recipient. This way, the kidney is not kept in storage for long. There is greater match of tissues and lower chance of rejection. It is cost effective because, as there is less chance of rejection, you may spend less on medication. Besides, there is less legal procedure involved.

An unrelated donor: A good tissue match may be difficult to find. You may have to wait from two weeks to two years. If you find a donor, then the donor is interrogated as a safeguard against organ trade.

A cadaver: The Indian Organ Transplant Act approves the harvest of organs from the brain dead. There are 60,000 accident cases reported in India each year. While many of these victims are brought to the hospital in a brain dead state, organs are not efficiently harvested from their bodies for the following reasons: