Establishing a deceased donor transplantation program and its impact in a public sector hospital in India – A single centre experience from India

Abstract

Introduction: Organ transplantation is growing in India but is mostly dependent on living donors. Deceased donor organ procurement has grown in certain parts of the country in the past decade. However, brain death certification and organ procurement predominantly happen in private health-care sector, with less contribution from public sector hospitals. Expanding the infrastructure for deceased donor transplantation program, especially in the public sector hospitals, is likely the most important step toward improving deceased donor organ donation rates in a country like India. Methods: Here, we describe our experience with setting up a deceased donor program in a public sector hospital and its outcomes. Results: We harvested organs and tissues from 42 deceased donors between December 2013 and March 2020. The deceased donor program has helped in establishing a multi-organ transplantation program at our center, including liver and hand transplantation, in addition to kidney and corneal transplantation. Conclusion: Gathering a committed team of direct stakeholders with domain expertise, creating an organizational system, and establishing clear standard operating procedures (SOPs) are critical for success, in addition to physical infrastructure.

Keywords

• brain death
• deceased donors
• organ transplantation
• public sector
• tissue and organ procurement