Indore ahead of Gwalior, Bhopal in organ donation

The city has become made its mark as one of the leading organ harvesting centres of the country, but sadly while these donations are a regular affair in Indore, nothing of this sort can be seen in the other three major cities of the state Gwalior, Jabalpur and even the capital Bhopal.

The city has become made its mark as one of the leading organ harvesting centres of the country, but sadly while these donations are a regular affair in Indore, nothing of this sort can be seen in the other three major cities of the state Gwalior, Jabalpur and even the capital Bhopal.

The organ donation society in Indore moved ahead and took advantage of the new rules the other cities in the state remained stuck. (Sonu Mehta/ HT File Photo))

The latest example was on October 4, when two green corridors were made in Indore facilitating organ transplant. This was the tenth time in the last one year that such a beautifully executed operation was carried out under the joint operation of Indore Organ Donation society and administration.

Divisional commissioner, Sanjay Dubey, who has been instrumental in lending his weight behind the project said that it is very encouraging the way Indore is developing as the leading center for organ harvesting and we have perfected the art of sending it to Delhi and Mumbai. “All our execution has been flawless,” Dubey said.

“The rule is the same. In 2014 the government made all the deans of medical colleges the authority to decide matters related to organ donation. This right earlier rested with the Director of Medical Education,” said Dr Sanjay Dixit, vice-dean MGM medical college and member of the Indore Organ Donation Society.

While the organ donation society in Indore moved ahead and took advantage of the new rules the other cities in the state remained stuck.

“The original act under which organ donation was initially carried out required multiple permissions for a single organ donation. Medico-legal cases faced severe trouble, certifying a brain stem death was even more difficult as doctors did not want to go through the entire paper work,” said Dr Dixit.

A decentralised approach towards the entire process of organ donation and a team work between the MGM medical college, Indore and administration have been the moving agents in this work.

Bhopal, the state capital established a society under the name of Bhopal Organ Donation society in April 2016 and recorded barely 24 eye donations so far and no cadaver donations to count unto, the Jabalpur medical college is busy with counselling sessions and are yet to record any donation. The medical college in Gwalior is yet to even establish an organisation.

“The work which Indore administration and medical college is doing is impressive. They have not only sensitised people about organ donation but have also recorded some commendable work in the last two years,” said Dr Rakesh Bhargav, joint secretary of Bhopal Organ Donation Society.

Talking about some of the challenges faced by the society, Dr Bhargav said, “It’s very difficult to obtain licenses and orders for things. Plus sensitisation is a huge issue. Somebody in the administration needs to take personal interest the way divisional commissioner, Indore Sanjay Dubey has done.”

The same woes are shared by Dr Sohail Siddiqui, cardiologist and member of the Divisional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (DOTTO), Jabalpur. “We established this society after looking at the amazing work which Indore was doing. But even after six months of work we are still caught with counselling and sensitisation work. The actual process or organ retrieval, maintaining a database is yet to happen.”