Gujarat may soon have its first skin bank

after death to help patients with severe burns to get a skin graft.

Dr Umesh Shah,president of the Gujarat Plastic Surgeon’s Association and the brain behind the project,said: “We have the full support of the National Burns Centre (NBC) at Mumbai and are now seeking financial assistance from local donors as well as skin banks in Switzerland and the UK.”

According to the annual records with the 108 Emergency Services,the state has over 6,000 burns cases annually. A skin bank becomes important for patients with more than 50 per cent burns. “It is then difficult to use the patient’s own skin for grafting and we have to rely on skin donated by the patient’s relative,” said Dr Shah.

There are around 80 plastic surgeons in Gujarat of which 14 deal with burns treatment and only four or five specialise in major burns. Dr Shah added: “Treating burns is a costly affair and using artificial skin makes it even more expensive. We use the alternative of Meek Micro Graft where a small piece of skin can be expanded to four-six-or nine times the original size for use in grafting. But only six hospitals in the country are equipped to do this.”

In skin donation,the skin is grafted from the cadaver within six hours of death and is preserved at a very low temperature for use within the next three years.

Grafting of foreign (cadaver) skin helps as a cover against infection and decreases fluid loss of the body. With less chances of infection,the survival rate of the patient increases and the chances of deformity also diminish.

“One patient with severe burns needs skin grafted from two cadavers,but we get only one donation per month and there are over 50 patients in need of skin grafting per month. Skin donation is in a very bad state as compared to other organ donation,” said Dr S M Keswani,a Mumbai-based cosmetic surgeon and medical director of NBC.

He,however,added: “Out of some sheer coincidence,70 per cent of the donors are Jains and Gujaratis. So if a bank is set up in Gujarat,the rate of donation will do wonders if people are philanthropic.”