Lack of awareness major setback for cadaver donation: AOH

Mumbai lags behind Chennai in cadaver donations

Association of Hospitals (AOH), consisting of 52 hospitals of Mumbai, recommended a strong action to increase the awareness about cadaver donation in the city. Although the cadaver donations in Mumbai has increased from 21 in 2013 to 31 in 2015 till now Mumbai still lags considerably in comparison to Chennai which manages to get over 80 cadaver donations each year. The main reasons behind the low cadaver donations in the city were a lack of awareness among patients and doctors as well as the few facilities that were equipped to handle cadaver donations, the healthcare body opined.

Dr PM Bhujang, President, AOH said, “Cadaver donation faces challenges from a legal perspective and an emotional perspective. Awareness about brain dead concept is very low, so much so that even doctors are not fully aware about the legal procedures in such case. To eradicate these onerous issues, joint awareness initiatives between various hospitals, government, and doctors are essential. The most important of all in this are the family doctors and treating doctors who the ones most closely associated with the patients, and probably often the only ones who can make a patient’s family understand the concept of being brain dead to convince the family to donate. Added to this, if all hospitals hired transplant coordinators implementing compulsory notification of brain dead patients it will be a first step in overcoming some of the issues of donations.”

Dr Bhujang further averred, “The government and various healthcare associations are together augmenting opportunities to promote cadaver donations. AOH suggests interactive sessions and seminars with medical workers and families to create awareness about donations. To ensure that donor’ organs reach recipients in time recent use of green corridors and advanced technologies like drones have to be employed. One of the other ways to create awareness is to make the organ receivers brand ambassadors. We estimate that at least each major city has the ability to save 200 to 300 lives each year as each cadaver can donate multiple organs to waiting patients.”