Fortis Gurugram organizes India’s First Summit on ‘Organ donation and transplantation in children’

Fortis Organ Retrieval & Transplant (FORT) & Department of Pediatrics, Fortis Memorial Research Institute organized India’s first summit on ‘Organ donation and transplantation in children’ today at Fortis Memorial Research Institute. The objective of the summit was to bring together experts in the field of Paediatric Critical Care, Paediatric Neurology and Organ Donation from public and private healthcare players across the globe.

This was the first national level meeting on pediatric organ donation in India to be endorsed by International Society of Organ Donation and Procurement which encourages the growth of transplantation globally. The event was co-hosted with MOHAN Foundation, National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) and was supported by College of Pediatric Critical Care, Indian Academy of Pediatrics - Critical Care Chapter and Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine - Pediatric Section.

 Several esteemed dignitaries of international and national stature. -Dr. Marti Manyalich, President, Transplant Procurement Management - Donation and Transplant Institute, Spain and President of ISODP, Dr. Maria Paula Gomez, Executive Director, Donation and Transplantation Institute, Barcelona & Medical Coordinator, International Registry for Organ Donation and Transplantation, Spain, Dr. Mohan Ram Mysore, Director Pediatric Intensive Care, Children’s hospital, Omaha, USA and a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force and Dr Darius Mirza from U.K. who  has a vast experience in liver transplantation in children. The discussion revolved around issues namely - Finer aspects of performing tests for brain death in children, Case based studies on difficult situations, Role of ancillary tests, Challenges in counseling of families for organ donation, Donor optimization in children and challenges in pediatric heart, lung, liver and kidney retrieval and transplantation.

Dr. Avnish Seth, Director, Fortis Organ Retrieval and Transplant says, “Pediatric organ donation is growing at a fast pace all over the world. In India, ‘The Transplantation of Organs Act 2011’ and ‘Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules of 2014’ have not adequately addressed the issue of organ donation in newborns, infants and children. In adults the mandatory time interval between 2 sets of testing for brain death is 6 hours. In children the time interval should be longer but has not been specified in Indian law. However it has been recommended by international societies that the time interval should be 24 hours for children below 30 days and 12 hours for children between the ages of 1 month to 18 years. The causes of brain death in children differ from those in adults. There are also significant challenges in maintaining the quality of organs after brain death in children. The pediatric recipient registries have to be made more robust and streamlined so that organs donated by children are optimally utilized.”

Dr Krishan Chugh, Director & HOD, Pediatrics & PICU, FMRI Gurgaon says, “Dealing with families who are trying to come to terms with the tragedy of losing a child requires sensitive handling. Our transplant coordinators are now experienced enough to take on this difficult task.  Organ Transplantation is now an integral part of life – saving treatment for infants and children with serious defects of the heart, lungs, kidneys and liver. The increasing success of organ transplantation due to improved surgical techniques, intensive care expertise, and process in transplantation immunology has resulted in a shortage of organs for children.”

The ‘More to Give’ campaign by Fortis Healthcare aims at creating awareness around the issue of organ donation and was awarded the best Corporate Social Responsibility initiative of 2016. Over 50 individuals donated their organs after brain death in Fortis hospitals across the country leading to transplantation of organs like heart, lung, liver and kidney, thus saving over 200 lives. The organ donation rate in the country has picked up from 0.05 per million to 0.8 per million population over the last 5 years. In 2016 it is estimated that there were 723 deceased donors across the country leading to transplantation of 2194 organs.

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