The state government is all set to amend the Andhra Pradesh Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1995, simplifying the definition of 'brain death,' 'related donors' etc to facilitate increase in the number of organ transplants. This was announced by the Minister for Medical and Health, Dr Kodela Sivaprasada Rao.

Inaugurating a daylong workshop on 'Organ Transplantation,' organised by the Nephrology Department of the Gandhi Medical College and Hospital, in Hyderabad, on Sunday, the Minister said a lot had to be done in the field of organ transplantation. He said he was not interested in kidney transplants alone, but in all other transplants like liver, heart, bone marrow, pancreas, corneas and lungs.

About 100,000 to 150,000 patients with kidney-related problems were added every year. At present not more than 150 kidney transplants were done in the country, of which the government hospitals perform only around 50. This meant a large number of patients would die for want of kidneys for transplantation or live with dialysis, which only the rich could afford.

The only solution was harvesting of organs from 'brain dead' people due to accidents. He stressed the need for education to motivate the relatives and attendants of brain dead, people who had no chances of survival, to donate their organs The conference, he said, should suggest to the government the legal, social, technical and other issues in order to convince the relatives about the donation of organs. One accident victim's organs could give a new lease of life to six or seven persons waiting for organs like kidney, corneas, liver, pancreas, bone marrow, lungs etc, he said.

The government was also in favour of liberalizing the policy on live donors that is near relatives who include spouse, son, daughter, father, mother, brother or sister as per the Act. He said this could be extended to first cousins as well. According to a survey, not more than 30 per cent of the relatives were willing to donate the organs. Even if one was willing, his or her organs would not be fit for transplantation.

He gave an assurance to provide sufficient funds to Osmania, Gandhi and Visakhapatnam government hospitals to take up organ transplants. Transplant surgeons from Chennai, Vellore, Bangalore and Delhi, besides local doctors, participated in the workshop aimed at evolving a consensus on issues relating to transplants.

Dr Sham Sunder, Vice-Chancellor, NTR University of Health Sciences, said a DM (Doctorate in Medicine) course in Nephrology would be started in Gandhi and Visakhapatnam hospitals from next year. Dr C Rama Devi, Director, Director, Medical Education, said getting kidneys from a living person was difficult and the only answer was cadaver transplantation. However, she called for some stringent guidelines to avoid exploitation of poor donors and other malpractices.

Dr A Meenakshi, Principal, Gandhi Medical College, said road accident cases were going up and cadaver transplantation should be taken up in a big way. She requested the Minister to provide a full-fledged department for transplantation, especially kidney, in the new premises of the Gandhi Hospital.

Dr Pradeep Deshpande, Vice-Principal and HoD, Department of Nephrology, Gandhi, said the Nephrology Department had completed 10 years and was looking forward to conducting kidney transplants when the hospital moves to its new location at Musheerabad. He stressed on the high incidence of kidney failures, the exploitation of poor donors by middlemen and lack of infrastructure in most of the government hospitals.

Rajendra Prasad, senior journalist and former Dy Editor of The Hindu, Hyderabad, speaking on media viewpoint on transplantation, said the media had a big role in creating public awareness. He decried the tendency of negative reporting which causes damage to a good cause like kidney transplantation. He referred to the way the recent episode in Kerala where a poor donor was exploited by middlemen was published in the media.
He said sometimes the son, daughter or other near relatives would not be fit to donate their kidneys. Then the patient should be able to get it from elsewhere. Television and cinema should be able to influence the public. May be even film personalities also can play a big role by their examples by coming forward offering their organs. The doctors, the NGOs and social workers should popularise it and the newspapers would be too happy to help their cause, he said.

Papers were presented by Dr Muthu Sethupathi from Chennai (Transplant scenario in Tamil Nadu), Dr C K Jacob, HoD, Nephrology, CMC Vellore (Cadaver transplantation in CMC Vellore), Dr Kishopre Phadke, nephrologist, St John's Medical College, Bangalore (Transplant scenario in Karnataka) and Lalitha Raghuram, Mohan Foundation
( How to start cadaver transplantation programme?). Film actress Laya, the daughter of a nephrologist, pledged all her organs in the presence of the Minister.