Experts dwell on organ donations

Chandigarh, October 1, 2022: As many as 120 people including doctors participated in a public forum on ‘Organ Donation’ at IMA Complex in sector 35 here on Saturday.

The program was organized by Rela Hospital, Chennai and Gastroenterology & Liver Forum Chandigarh in association with IMA Chandigarh.

Speaking during the occasion, Dr. Gomathy Narasimhan senior consultant Liver and Renal Transplant Surgery at Rela Hospital, Chennai said that the ability to transplant organs and tissues is one of the greatest success stories in modern medicine.

Thanks to organ donation, many people with life threatening illnesses can look forward to a future and a second chance at life. Many others can experience a better quality of life through organ donation, she opined.

Talking about what can be done donated she said that organs and tissues that can be donated and transplanted include; kidneys, heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, intestines, hands, face, corneas, skin, heart valves, bone, veins, cartilage, tendons, and ligaments.

People of any age, including the very young and the very old, can be donors. Anyone over the age of 18 can register to be a donor. If a child under the age of 18 dies, parents must decide whether to donate the child’s organs to help others and share the gift of life, she asserted.

Dr. Gomathy Narasimhan further informed that even with a medical condition, donation may be possible. When someone dies, donation professionals determine whether any of the deceased's organs can be used for transplantation.

She said, organs can be donated after brain death also. In brain death the brain stems  stop functioning, but the heart and other organs are kept working by the ventilator. Brain death occurs due to traumatic injuries, as in road accidents, or from
Certain conditions such as aneurysms that affect the brain’s functioning. It is only with such patients, where the rest of the body is kept functioning on a ventilator that the other organs are preserved in a condition suitable for donation.

Brain death and coma are completely different. Coma patients are not brain dead at all. Patients in coma are therefore alive as you and me and will not be considered for organ donation at all. Coma is a reversible state while brain death is an irreversible
state.

Speaking of people of different race or ethnicities, she said that organs are not matched according to race or ethnicity, and people of different races frequently match one another. However, a compatible blood type between the donor and recipient is essential for a successful transplant.

While more than 120 million people have registered as donors, more are needed — because very few die in a way that makes them eligible to donate. Imagine how many lives could be saved and improved if all of us made the decision to donate the gift of life. Sign up on your state’s donor registry, she remarked.

Among others Dr. (Mrs) Ramneek Sharma president and Dr. Vivek Malhotra the  president and secretary of IMA, Chandigarh respectively and were also present during the occasion.