App comes as a ray of hope for those needing kidney transplant

LUCKNOW: ‘ikidney’ app or the incompatible kidney app has come as a ray of hope for patients who need a kidney replacement but are not able to find a match within the family. The app was launched in the city by its founder Dr Priyadarshi Ranjan of Fortis Chandigarh and Dr SN Shankhwar of KGMU on Wednesday.

Ranjan said the mobile app would facilitate kidney transplants as it can find compatible kidney, blood or tissue donors for the patient. The app would help thousands of patients of kidney failure who have a legitimate donor within the family but are not able to get a successful transplant due to blood group or tissue incompatibility between the donor and the recipient. In 25% cases, potential donors are not able to donate the kidney because of such incompatibilities.

Ranjan said, “This app is first of its kind, not only in India but also the world. The rising number of patients of kidney failure requiring renal replacement therapy places a heavy burden on healthcare resources. Although dialysis is an option, kidney transplant remains the treatment of choice for most eligible individuals.”

Ranjan added, “A donor mismatch can occur due to several reasons, most common being different blood group, previous blood transfusion, pregnancy or previous transplants. Since, human organ transplant act allows only near relatives to donate kidney, it becomes tough for patients who cannot get a transplant done despite having a donor within the family.”

Such patients could easily register on this app, which is free to download via a simple two step registration process. Their data is matched with hundreds of already registered patients. And once the perfect match was found the kidney could be transplanted, said Ranjan.

Since 2009, kidney swapping was legalized under the amendments of the Human Organ Transplant Act of India. This app would allow all such patients to come under one roof and help them find a matching donor for transplant, said Dr Ranjan.