‘Only 20.5% hospitals performed cadaver organ transplant in 2014’

The move comes after the public health department demanded a review of all hospitals involved in the programme. A few months ago, the former union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan had urged both hospitals and people to participate proactively in cadaver organ donation process.

Brain stem death means that the brain of the deceased stops functioning, but other vital organs like kidney, liver, heart and lung function properly. In such a case, a hospital has to report the cadaver death to ZTCC and counsel the deceased’s family to donate the organs. Last year, of the 102 hospitals registered in the state for organ transplant, only 28 reported brain stem deaths and 21 performed transplant surgeries – which is only 20.5 per cent of those registered. The maximum contribution came from city hospitals with 15 reporting brain stem deaths in 2014.

Over the last two years, cadaver donation has significantly shot up in the city. From 55 cadaver transplants reported in 2013, the count has reached 107 in 2014. However, while the number of organ donors has jumped from 24 to 41 across Mumbai due to “increased awareness and rejection of social taboo”, the DHS observed that only selected hospitals were involved in the process.

“In some hospitals, doctors are scared to get involved in police proceedings while declaring a cadaver death in accident cases or they fear family wrath while requesting for organ donation. We are trying to reassure doctors that declaring a brain stem death will not land them in any trouble. Hospitals must be encouraged to perform cadaver transplants,” said an official from DHS.

In the city, even tertiary care civic hospitals like Sion and Nair hospital failed to report cadaver deaths despite recording several cases through the year. According to Sion hospital sources, absence of coordinators was a major impediment in counselling the family of deceased patients.

tabassum.barnagarwala@expressindia.com