West Bengal to seek monthly reports on brain-dead patients from hospitals

KOLKATA: The state health department is all set to ask hospitals with critical care beds to submit a report on the number of patients declared brain dead by them on a monthly basis. This, health officials believe, will boost the deceased organ donation movement in the state.

West Bengal

had witnessed 15 organ donations in 2018 compared to a single donation in 2017. This year, the city has already seen two donations till date. Activists, doctors and officials working in the field said that there was a lot to be done in order make the movement thrive in the state.

“Asking hospitals to report the number of brain deaths will definitely give a push to the organ donation drive in the state,” said Dr Arpita Raychaudhury, joint director of Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO), during a panel discussion organised by TOI on organ donation drive in association with Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital (KDAH) Mumbai.

ROTTO will complement the initiative by conducting a workshop for critical care doctors and intensivists on braindead declaration.

Out of 15 donations last year, some organs had gone wasted either due to non availability of suitable recipients or recipients backing out at the last moment.

“There are two issues — viability of the donor organ and structural organisational aspect. We cannot transplant a liver that’s found to be unfit,” said Dr Abhijit Choudhury, hepatology head at SSKM Hospital’s School of Digestive and Liver Diseases.

Choudhury also pointed towards the need for media to play a constructive role that would leave positive messages about organ donation and transplant.

“In Maharashtra, the active role of five zonal transplant coordination committees (ZTCC) has helped a lot in organ allocation,” said Dr Somnath Chattopadhyay, hepatobiliary surgery and liver transplant head at KDAH.

Dr Sanjay Pandey, kidney transplant surgeon at KDAH, said that apart from ZTCC, involvement of NGOs in the movement has also pushed the organ donation movement in Maharashtra.

“Bengalis are high on emotional quotients and hence, there is a lot of scope for the organ donation movement to thrive in the state. I am sure the movement is gaining momentum and will pick up more pace,” said Pandey.

Though NGOs and activists have started working on organ donation drive, they have “not been engaged officially either by the state government or ROTTO”. “We need an exhaustive list of organ recipients and also streamlining of the allocation system,” said V M Swamy, an activist.

“Along with critical care doctors, there is a need to train the nurses because they also interact with patient families and hence they can also play a key role in encouraging families to donate organs during brain deaths,” said Dr Ashima Bhelotkar, cardiac surgeon at Fortis Hospital and a member of the team that conducted eastern India’s first heart transplant.

Buddha Das, co-founder of Anthyesti, represented the NGO during the panel discussion. A street play by school children at Salt Lake City Centre was also a part of the campaign.