Pune: Patients and their households are choosing non-public hospitals for organ transplants regardless of the steep prices attributable to lack of correct amenities and willingness at authorities centres, confirmed knowledge.

The want for transplants is rising in India with persistent kidney illnesses and liver afflictions being on the fore. Such instances should not relegated to any class, although the monetary burden is felt extra by the economically weaker sections. A single kidney transplant can value as much as Rs 20 lakh in a personal facility in a tier I metro metropolis. Private hospitals nearly have a monopoly attributable to lack of understanding in authorities hospitals, based on knowledge.
Information from the State Organ Transplant and Tissue Coordination Committee (SOTTO) mentioned out of the 305 organ transplants from 105 deceased donors in Maharashtra in 2022, solely eight passed off in authorities hospitals and the remaining in non-public centres.

Organ transplant committees are headed by docs of presidency hospitals and social employees. Despite their approval for presidency hospitals, the transplant surgical procedures are sometimes performed at non-public ones. For instance, Pune’s Sassoon General Hospital (SGH) — which is the most important tertiary care centre within the area — had accepted 584 organ transplants from January 2018 to May 2023. In the identical interval, the hospital performed solely 15 of them, together with these from deceased and residing donors. According to their knowledge, this 12 months, until May finish, just one transplant was carried out at SGH.
Dr Narayan Prasad, professor and head of the nephrology division, SGPGIMS, Lucknow and councillor of the International Society of Nephrology, mentioned, “There are three main reasons for this — lack of trained manpower, ICU facilities and determination. Many government hospitals do not even have a nephrologist and there is a dearth of trained nurses and technicians. Additionally, after a transplant, patient needs intensive care and most government centres cannot afford to provide it. However, the lack of willpower at government hospitals to conduct such surgeries is the biggest culprit. The priority of government hospitals is just infectious disease management.”
He mentioned a kidney transplant at a authorities hospital prices as much as Rs 4 lakh, whereas the identical was 5 occasions increased at a personal hospital. Despite authorities funded tasks like PMJAY, which supply as much as Rs 2.5 lakh for an organ transplant, authorities hospitals ignore these surgical procedures. “They take no initiative. For example, if a person is declared brain dead in the middle of the night, various organ tests and documentation formalities must happen immediately, government hospitals don’t make that extra effort.”
SGH dean Dr Yellapa Jadhav mentioned, “One, we are burdened with patients of communicable and infectious diseases. I would not say that we do not have enough trained staff, but we do need to analyse why most patients prefer private hospitals despite high cost.”
Kidney transplant recipient Padmakar Jadhav (60) needed to bear a surgical procedure in 2016. “It cost me around Rs 7 lakh. Prior to the surgery, I had to undergo dialysis twice every week for five years. After the surgery, I have to go to a nephrologist for regular follow-ups.” It isn’t just the surgical procedure that’s costly, however so is the aftercare, mentioned Jadhav including that the choice was nonetheless non-public amenities due to assured healthcare.
Geetanjali Sonawane (27) underwent a coronary heart transplant in a personal hospital on May 31. She mentioned, “I got registered on the ZTCC list in May 2021. The private hospital had quoted Rs 25 lakh for the pre-operative care, surgery and post-operative care. We went to Sassoon and Command hospital, but then the hospitals were prioritising Covid-19 patients. Getting tests done at government hospitals was also harassing as it needed a lot of running around. So we settled for a private hospital, which helped us arrange crowdfunding, applying to CM and PM funds and to various charity organisations.” Dr Sheetal Dadphale, secretary at ZTCC Pune mentioned, “The government needs to fund medical colleges and general hospitals to make sure organ transplant happens smoothly in the set up.”
Assistant professor of forensic drugs and toxicology at BJMC Dr Harish Tatiya mentioned, “We need to counsel people to donate organs of a deceased family member. Consent is a challenge This is the main reason for lower organ donations in government hospitals. Also, at rural level, there are no committees to declare a patient brain dead.”