'The chance of a liver donor dying in surgery is one in 200'

Doctors divided over whether a donor should be subjected to the risks of a transplant.

In 2006, when Swami Yatidharmananda, a Hrishikesh-resident, learnt that his friend, Dr Anil Suchak from Mumbai, needed a liver transplant, he immediately considered donating his own.

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Dr Suchak was a hepatitis-C patient, with liver cirrhosis for over 20 years.

“Dr Suchak’s wife, Abha, told me that she was not able to donate her liver because she had been diagnosed with a fatty liver tissue. I immediately decided to donate mine,” said Yatidharmanada.

Dr Suchak, 57, who runs Suchak Hospital in Malad, underwent the surgery at Indraprastha Apollo hospital, New Delhi, in 2006. Both the donor and the recipient are healthy so far.

“The chance of a liver donor dying during the surgery is one in 200,” said Dr Subhash Gupta, head of transplant surgery, Indraprastha Apollo hospital, New Delhi. Some doctors have, however, raised an ethical debate about whether a donor, who is in good health before the surgery, should be put at risk for a transplant.

In 2006, Dr Sanjay Nagral, a liver transplant surgeon from Jaslok Hospital, raised these questions in a paper published in the Indian Journal of Gastroenterology. Nagral stated that 20% of the liver donors have complications. The complications range from bile leaks to bleeding.

KEM hospital stopped conducting live liver transplants in 2010 after a donor and a recipient died after a surgery. It now conducts cadaver donations, where organs are harvested from a donor’s body after his/her death and has 19 patients on its waiting list.

However, some programmes such as the one run by Indraprastha Apollo hospital, largely conduct live liver transplants. Dr Gupta said that all their donors have had a smooth recovery so far.