Cadaveric organ donation got a boost in the city on Wednesday with three zero-traffic green corridors created on a single day to transport vital organs from different hospitals.
Authorities from Jeevasarthakathe, the State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTTO), which is the nodal agency that facilitates cadaver organ donations, said this is the first time that three green corridors had been created on a single day. There were back-to-back organ donations since Tuesday evening and two green corridors were also created on Tuesday night - one in Mangaluru and another in Bengaluru.
“We placed the requests for three green corridors with the Bengaluru traffic police in a gap of 30 minutes. While one green corridor was created at 10 a.m. on Wednesday from Manipal Hospitals on Old Airport Road to BGS Global Hospitals in Mysuru (to transport a liver), another was created at 10.30 a.m. from Aster RV hospital to MS Ramaiah-Narayana Hrudayalaya (to transport a heart). At 11 a.m., another corridor was created from the same hospital (Aster RV) to Bengaluru International airport to transport donated lungs to KIMS, Secunderabad
Another two green corridors were created late on Tuesday evening, when there was an alert about a potential 19-year-old male donor at KMC Manipal, Udupi. The donor’s vital organs – liver, kidneys, corneas, and skin – had been harvested. While a first zero-traffic green corridor was created from Manipal Hospital, Udupi, to Mangaluru airport (on Tuesday evening), another was created from Bengaluru airport to Aster RV hospital,” said Lijamol Joseph, Jeevasarthakathe Chief Transplant Coordinator.
Pointing out that Wednesday’s donation is the fifth this month, Ms. Joseph said a total of 32 donations have happened since January. This includes a donation by a 97-year-old male donor in the city. While 10 donations were recorded in January and seven in February, 10 were recorded in March.
Although cadaveric organ donations had almost come to a halt during the pandemic, there has been a steady rise in the last few months. However, the number of donations are still way below those that happened during pre-COVID-19 days.
Jeevasarthakathe had recorded 35 donations in 2020, retrieving 167 organs and tissues (including corneas and heart valves). In 2021, 70 cadaveric donations had been recorded retrieving 284 organs and tissues. Likewise, in 2019 as many as 105 cadaveric donations were facilitated through Jeevasarthakathe (wherein 511 organs and tissues were retrieved).
Elaborating on the efforts involved in facilitating every transplant, Ms. Joseph said: “Apart from our team of transplant coordinators, many others were instrumental in ensuring the donations happened. We are grateful to Bopanna K.P., airport manager at Mangaluru International Airport, for enabling a delay of six minutes in the departure of the flight to ensure proper positioning of the organ box on the designated seat.”
“The organ transportation was made seamless by Roopa Sreeram, manager (Airport Operations and Customer Services) at Bengaluru international airport, who ensured there was an ambulance ready at the airport to safely transport the organ via the green corridor,” she added.
Demand-supply gap
Although there has been a steady rise in the number of donations, the number of patients in need of organ transplantation is also increasing.
With as many as 5,309 patients waiting for various organ transplants in Karnataka (including 4,065 for kidneys and 1,069 for liver) as of Wednesday, the demand-supply gap in organ transplantation in the State is only widening, according to Jeevasarthakathe .
