Cadaver donations: UP way behind TN, Kerala, says doc

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh has five times more patients requiring organ transplant than in Tamil Nadu, but it saw only 7 cadaver transplants in 2014 and 2015 as against 155 in Tamil Nadu. When it comes to saving lives through cadaver organ donation, UP lags far behind southern states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala, said professor Narayan Prasad, senior nephrologist at SGPGI and secretary of India Society of Organ Transplant.

From 2008 to September 2015, there were 3,870 cadaver organ donations and transplants (liver, kidney, heart and eyes) in Tamil Nadu but in UP there were hardly 30 cadaver organ donations in the same period, he said.

Prasad said there were 58 cadaver organ donations in Kerala, around 155 in Tamil Nadu and 52 such donations in Maharashtra in 2014.

In UP, the cadaver organ transplant is suffering due to the apathy of authorities.

Secondly, the state doesn’t have infrastructure and a system in place for cadaver transplants. This shows that the state authorities are not aware of the problems of those suffering kidney, liver and heart ailments, said sources.

There is also absence of any programme for cadaver donors in the state. In the last 28 years, SGPGI alone performed more than 2,800 kidney transplants, but out of these, only 12 were cadaver transplants.

The indifferent attitude of officials is disheartening despite a survey on ‘Public attitude to organ donation’ showing that 72% of the population were willing to donate eyes and carrying a ‘Donor Card’ while around 49% were willing to consider solid organ donation.

In Tamil Nadu, the rate of cadaver organ donation is 1.9% per 10 lakh people while in UP the rate is just .04% per 10 lakh population.

Dr Narayan Prasad said cadaver transplant could play an important role to save people from premature death.