A new precedent in organ donation

The Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS Hospitals) has set new standards in organ donation and transplant by creating a ‘swap registry’. A team of experts at the hospitals led by Senior Transplantation Surgeon Padmashri Dr Sarbeswar Sahariah, have transplanted a compatible kidney of a donor from one family to a recipient of a different family, and vice-versa. This form of kidney exchange or swap is a simple barter practise, which helps protect lives of two individuals.

Commenting on the procedure and its necessity, Dr Sahariah said, “With the growing instances of kidney failures in India, transplant of compatible kidneys is obligatory to save lives. At times it becomes very difficult to find a suitable donor kidney from within the same family; hence it is relevant for hospitals and regulatory authorities to maintain a swap registry to help patients find suitable organs from a different family. This practice is well evolved in developed nations like the United States, and scope for this is immense in a country like India.”

“It is to be noted that such a practice only develops strong bonding between different families,” he said. “By doing a swap, two patients with kidney failure who in normal circumstances cannot undergo a transplant because of blood group mismatch within the family, can now go ahead with kidney transplantation,” he added.

The doctor said that through the procedure a 16-year-old boy who was at the end-stage renal disease received a kidney from the father of a 26-year-old who was suffering from the same condition and vice-versa. “Interestingly, the blood group of one boy’s father matched with that of the other. So the doctors suggested ‘SWAP Kidney Transplant’,” he said. The procedures were performed and both patients and their donors were discharged within 12 days of surgeries.