COVID-19 and its subsequent lockdown may have slowed down organ donations and transplants in the State, but they have also brought in a paradigm shift in the processes involved.
In three months, Tamil Nadu has recorded three donations, from which eight organs, including a heart, were transplanted.
The beginning of 2020 saw 32 donations in the State during January and February. However, as COVID-19 cases started to surge in the State, a lockdown was put in place during March-end and this brought the cadaver transplant programme to a standstill.
Fewer road accidents
Officials of the Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu (Transtan) said that there were no donations and transplants during April, primarily because of the lockdown and a decrease in road traffic accidents.
Simultaneously, the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation called for a suspension of the cadaver transplant programme in the country. However, live organ donations of kidneys and liver were performed during the period.
Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar said that the State had framed guidelines to ensure that organ transplants continued uninterrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Safety protocols
“We came up with a set of protocols in May for the transplant centres to follow. With COVID-19, we have to take a number of precautions to ensure the safety of patients and healthcare professionals. Hospitals need to perform COVID-19 tests for the donors and recipients, as well as their near relatives/attendants. The opinion of infectious disease consultants on the COVID-19 status of the donor/recipient should be obtained. The recipients should sign a high-risk informed consent, specific to COVID-19. Only if the patient agrees can the hospital proceed,” R. Kanthimathy, member secretary of Transtan, said. “The guidelines are essential, as after operation, the chances of COVID-19 infection is high.”
In May, there was one donation at the Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital in Coimbatore, where a kidney was retrieved and transplanted on an in-house patient.
The second donation took place during the end of June at the Velammal Medical College Hospital in Madurai. In this, the liver was harvested and transplanted, while the kidneys could not be utilised due to medical reasons.
The third donation happened in July at MGM Healthcare in Chennai. The hospital transplanted a heart and a kidney, while the liver, another kidney and lungs were allocated to the Global Hospital, the Gem Hospital and the Apollo Hospitals, officials said.
“The first two donors were non-medico legal cases, while the third was involved in a road traffic accident,” she said.
In the meantime, live organ donations continued in the State. There were 26 kidney transplants and 44 liver transplants from April to July.
Organ Donation Day
To mark Organ Donation Day on Thursday, the Health Minister released the annual report of Transtan.
Mr. Vijayabaskar said that till now, a total of 8,163 organs were retrieved from 1,382 donors in the State.
Among others, Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan, project director of the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society Deepak Jacob and member secretary of Transtan R. Kanthimathy were present.