Kidney transplantation in India: Challenges and future recommendation

Abstract

Successful kidney transplantation offers the best possible quality of life for patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD). Despite this, renal transplantation rates in the developing world are considerably lower than in the developed world. Identified reasons for this include lack of awareness, low education levels, lack of a clear national policy, absence of functional dialysis and transplant units with adequately trained staff, and absence of an organized system of organ retrieval from deceased donors and lack of opportunities to fund long-term immunosuppression. Measures to improve the quality of care should center on improvement of the socioeconomic status of the country. Key action points include the implementation of: (1) Chronic kidney disease (CKD) screening and prevention programs; (2) ESRD and transplantation registries; (3) transplantation legislation, covering both living and deceased organ donation; (4) international and regional collaborations for transfer of knowledge and technology. The government should make transplantation more affordable by strengthening the public sector hospitals and by making the transplant medication more affordable. With the National Organ Transplant Programme (NOTP) in the process of being established in India, the transplant community should strive to increase the organ donation awareness, improve the infrastructure for organ retrieval, storage and allocation in an equitable way.

Keywords

• Donor
• end stage renal disease
• kidney transplantation
• renal replacement therapy