Himachal men donating organs for wives

In a pleasant new trend in Himachal Pradesh, husbands are increasing coming forward to donate organs to their wives. Doctors from private hospital Fortis, who were here Tuesday to talk about the success of kidney transplantation in cases where the patient and the donor have different blood groups, confirmed the trend. Elaborating further, Priyadarshi Ranjan, kidney transplant surgeon, Fortis, Mohali, told IANS that a trend has been seen in Himachal Pradesh that husbands are volunteering to donate kidneys to save the lives of their wives. Out of the six kidney transplant cases involving patients and donors of different blood groups, at least four were from Himachal Pradesh and in all cases husbands were the donors, he said.

'This trend is not common in the northern region, especially Punjab, where the donor is rarely a male member,' he said. The former assistant professor with the Sanjay Gandhi PGIMS in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh said generally a woman family member in Punjab volunteers to help the patient, be it a man or a woman. However, husbands in Himachal Pradesh have set a new trend, he said. 'I did four-five surgeries in the last one and a half years in which the kidney donors were husbands. All the patients were from Himachal Pradesh,' he added. His latest patient is Rekha Devi from Dhaneta village Kangra district. 'My father-in-law told my husband, in fact directed him, to donate a kidney to save my life,' she said. (Read: Pledge your organs and save five people through organ donation)

Ranjan said now kidney transplants are possible even if the blood groups of both the donor and the recipient didn't match. In case of Rekha Devi, the blood group of the donor was A+ and that of the recipient, B+. 'So far we did six transplantations in which the blood groups of both the donor didn't match,' Ranjan added. Nephrologist Amit Sharma said traditionally transplants required an exact blood match. 'Now ABO incompatible blood type kidney transplant are a reality and they have been successfully performed as is evident in the case of Rekha Devi,' he added. (Read: Organ donation all your queries answered)

Here are a few things you should know before you opt to donate to your own family member;

• A person can choose to donate an organ to a family member at any point, but in the state of Maharashtra you will require an NOC from the government. In other states this rule is exempt.
• Before you donate, you will be given a complete health check up along with a blood cross matching test. This is done to see if the organ you are donating will match the recipient.
• Once an NOC is obtained, you can donate your organ as per your surgeon's directions.

Cadaver donation: a cadaver donation is one where a person pledges his/her organs after death. This is a system where the organs of the person are harvested after the person is declared brain dead. If you do pledge your organs there are a few things you should keep in mind:

• In order to be an organ donor, you have to register with any NGO that will help you get an organ donation card. This card will declare you as a person who would like to donate after death.(hyperlink to nemo's article)
• Make sure you inform your family about your wishes to donate. This is important because after your death, your close family has the right to deny the doctor permission to harvest your organs.
• Transplant and organ donation rules state that after the organs have been harvested, the coroner or physician will return the body of the deceased to the family members in an aesthetic manner. This means that he/she will suture all cuts made and wrap the body appropriately. Read more about Organ donation: Rules you should know

With inputs from IANS

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