Scheduled for the end of April 2015,  Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) run KEM Hospital will have the distinction of being the first government hospital in the city to conduct first of its kind kidney transplants in which two females would donate kidneys to each other’s husband through 'Swap Kidney Transplant' to see their husbands back on their feet. KEM also has the distinction of conducting the highest number of 72 cadaver organ donations till date.

The couples were introduced to each other by the doctors at Mumbai based Zonal Transplant Coordination Centre (ZTCC) where they came to know about the 'Swap Kidney Transplant' also called kidney paired donation.

Kidney paired donation occurs when a living kidney donor is incompatible with the recipient, and hence exchanges kidneys with another donor-recipient pair. Such transplantation enables two incompatible recipients to receive healthy, more compatible kidneys from each other.

ZTCC coordinates, monitors and supervises the cadaver organ transplant programme. It is also responsible for activities of central tissue typing laboratory and drug bank. It is currently spearheading the promotion and awareness of organ donation with a view to help organ failure patients in overcoming their ailment.

One of the couples had recommended and consented for a Swap Kidney Transplant earlier to the ZTCC which facilitated the transplant, informs an official associated with the development. Further to this, Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) has also given the permission for the same.

For a transplant, it is necessary that the blood and tissue of a donor and recipient match. If there is a donor but the blood group is incompatible, swap transplants make the procedure possible. The transplant is carried out in a series where the donor of one pair gives a kidney to the recipient of another pair. It continues till the last donor in the chain donates to the first recipient in the line.

While this procedure is routine in North America and Europe, India’s first domino kidney transplant comprising five surgeries happened in June, 2013. The patients from Maharashtra, aged between 24 and 55 years, were registered with the city-based Apex Swap Transplant Registry (ASTRA) which facilitated the swap transplants. The surgeries (both on donors and recipients) happened at Bombay, Hinduja and Hiranandani Hospitals.

Though BMC is planning to hire dedicated transplant coordinators, there remains a challenge of converting brain stem deaths to successful organ donations more so as public hospitals primarily cater to a section of people who are unaware about organ donation. It also gets tougher from the medico-legal perspective as hospitals also deal with a lot of accident cases.