Historically the first deceased donor renal transplant was performed at the KEM Hospital, Mumbai in 1965 followed by another in 1966 and then in Varanasi in the early 70’s. After a gap of almost thirty years it again picked up in the late 90’s in Mumbai followed by Pune (in Ruby Hall Clinic and KEM Hospital) in 1997.
Today, organ donation is no longer as difficult a concept to understand for a lay person .The journey has been long and arduous and many hours of hard work has gone into convincing families to donate organs by transplant teams. Equally difficult has been the task of convincing the Police. All that is in the past now.
Talking about Pune, the appointment of a Central Coordinator by the ZTCC ( Zonal Transplant Coordination Centre ) Pune in 2013 was the best thing that could have happened to the Deceased Donor programme. There has been a steady and dramatic rise in organ donations in the city and seamless allocation of donor organs through the Central Waiting List for Pune Zone.
To talk about numbers, from January to 23rd March 2020, of the potential 17 deceased donors identified across the district 14 donor family consents were obtained. Vital organs were seamlessly allocated to wait listed patients on the ZTCC Pune Central Waiting List and heart, lungs and small bowel were even shared with Delhi and Mumbai. 35 patients got a new lease of life. The COVID pandemic has however been a setback for the programme and it has more or less come to a standstill. However it is noteworthy that even during COVID, Pune has recorded the highest number of organ donations(9 deceased donor multi organ transplants performed) in the country!

ORGAN ALLOCATION UNDER ZTCC PUNE

In an attempt to allocate the short in supply organs to the best possible candidate, the Directorate of Health Services Maharashtra driven “Deceased Donor” programme, was started by the formal creation of ZTCC Pune in 2002. Based on the organ allocation programme of the United States UNOS ( United Network of Organ Sharing) a predetermined point system based on certain medical conditions in the recipient was adopted by the ZTCC Pune. Initially only patients needing renal replacement therapy with no suitable family donors were registered on the Central Waiting List. Slowly the list encompassed liver failure patients and in recent times patients needing pancreas, heart and lung and other multi visceral organs. Currently there are approximately 2300 patients registered on the waiting list for various organs. The point system helps in allocating the best organ to the best candidate registered on the Central Waiting List thereby ensuring a bias free, fair and transparent allocation protocol. Organs have also been flown to Chennai Hyderabad and Mumbai as a reciprocal sharing system ensures no organ is wasted. The cost of donor maintenance (capped at a maximum of Rs. 50,000/-) is borne by the recipient as is the cost of transportation of organs.
In a landmark move, the ZTCC Pune Central Coordinator was able to facilitate 100 “Green Corridors” with the help of Pune police from August 2015 to March 2020 in an effort to transport the precious organs from the donor hospital to the Pune Airport in record time .
The future of Organ Donation in India is bright and very dynamic and hopefully the post COVID times will see a resumption of the excellent efforts put in by Transplant teams, Transplant Coordinators and Counselors, Hospitals, Police Departments and ambulance drivers. But most of all a salute to the donor families who run the programme with their dedicated and “all heart” efforts in giving the valuable “Gift of Life” opportunity to so many needy and sick patients.

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