28th national conference of Indian Society of Organ Transplantation
Indore : “India is not lagging behind any western country in organ transplantation. Rather, we are turning into a capital of the world in organ transplants,” said plastic surgery expert, Dr Anand Kale while addressing media during the 28th national conference of Indian Society of Organ Transplantation, here on Saturday.
He however, clarified that “Our country doesn’t lack donors for vital organs, but awareness, which is posing a big hurdle in the path of saving lives.”
“Developing uterus transplant further is the need of the hour as awareness among people is increasing. Surgeons should work for uterus transplant to give a new hope to those who have lost their fertility in some unfortunate incidents,” Dr Kale said, adding that “Following recent advancements, we have now started working on hands, face and uterus transplant.”
The expert surgeon also talked about pros and cons of face and hand transplant and informed that so far, only 30 cases of face transplant have taken place in the world with five performed in India.
“Doctors in Kochi have recently performed a hand transplant in which they have transplanted hands of a male patient to an engineer girl. There are many patients in the waiting list, but the need of awareness is important,” he added.
Several other professionals in the field also discussed about easing the process of organ donation and transplant on the occasion, with experts presenting over 150 research papers in the conference.
MYTH BUSTER: Put water, not milk on acid burns
In an attempt to break the myth of pouring milk on skin as a primary care for acid burns, Dr Kale said that people should rather put water on the burns, as it would decrease the injury level. “Face transplant can save many patients, whose skin has been damaged due to some accident or acid burn. It has many legal issues, but a lot of work is underway to remove those hurdles,” he said adding “What we need is specialised unit for such complex transplant as it cannot be done in trauma centres.”
