E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, DEC 13 -

Here is good news for patients of renal failure. In order to mitigate the problem of unavailability of human organs, particularly the kidney, officials are in a process to allow organ donation from brain-dead individuals. Arogya Foundation, a charity organisation, is all set to establish Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) laboratory, a main tool for cross-matching of organs and tissue typing, according to officials.

“We are preparing to bring the ultra-modern HLA lab into operation by next month. Thenceforth, patients of renal failure need not die in the lack of kidney donors,” said Dr. Pukar Chandra Shrestha, a transplant surgeon at Bir Hospital.

Dr. Shrestha, who has transplanted human organs such as liver and kidney for six years in Freeman Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Royal Liverpool Hospital in the UK, said, “In the UK and most other parts of the world, there is permission to take organs from persons after their brain-death. I have transplanted hundreds of organs from dead persons in patients. We can do the same here but it has been impossible so far in the absence of required infrastructure, mainly the HLA lab. This will soon be the history.”

The Arogya Foundation has placed an order for Lumilex-200 system for the lab with a US-based company. The equipment is expected to arrive by the first week of January and put to use by the end of the month. If the legal hurdles are cleared, paving ways for extracting organs from deceased persons, two lives can be saved from one donor. Issue typing and cross matching of organs before transplant are being carried out in India so far. The process costs about Rs. 70,000 and takes two weeks for a Nepali patient. If the same were to be done here, it is achievable in 12 hours at the cost of Rs. 30,000.

Human Organ Transplant Act-1998 is silent on organ donation from deceased persons. Moreover, with a view to controlling trade in kidney, the Act has limited kidney donors to close relatives, namely father and mother, uncle and aunt, sister and brother and adopted son and daughter of the patient. As a result, many renal patients were unable to get a kidney for transplant.

According to statistics, an average of 100 patients with brain-death are admitted to Bir Hospital every year. Chairman of Organ Transplant Coordination Committee Dr. Biswo Raj Joshi said, “Once the needed infrastructure is in place, the committee can push for amendment to the law.” According to an estimate, nearly 2.7 million people in the country are suffering from a kind of kidney ailment. What is shocking is that nearly 2,800 individuals face total failure of their kidneys every year.

Posted on: 2010-12-13 09:30

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