Now,skin bank to store tissues up to 3 yrs

Every year,roughly over 1,000 severely burnt patients require skin treatment. However,currently both National Burns Centre and the skin bank at Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital (LTMG) in Sion get a meagre 10 donors in a year. “We need at least two skin donors for resurfacing wounds for one patient so we need around 2,000 skin donors to meet the city’s demands,” said Dr Keswani. The country has only two skin banks currently functioning at National Burns Centre and at the LTMG Hospital.

Lack of awareness is the major hurdle in seeking skin donation. Hence the NBC is also planning to undertake a massive awareness campaign in the city. “We have hired two marketing agencies to increase awareness among the educated lot. The idea is to market through radio,newspapers and other conventional media. Also the potential of blogs,emails and social networking sites will be put to use,” said Dr Keswani.

Dr Velsly Bodha,who inaugurated the skin bank,announced a regular funding of 10,000 euros for the next five years. “They have agreed to share this technology with our centre. Also on an annual basis professionals from Euro Skin Bank will come down to train the doctors and evaluate the working of skin bank ,” added Dr Keswani. The Euro Skin Bank also donated two dermatome (machine used to retrieve skin) worth Rs seven lakh each.