Our country has the highest number of kidney patients in the world. When I did some research on this, I found out that this is true. March 2023 According to statistics, about 10% of the country’s Percentage of population suffering from some kidney disease i.e. 1 crore 41 Million people. These figures seem more true when June 2023 According to a report by the Union Health Ministry on 36 20 people in the Prime Minister’s National Dialysis Program for BPL beneficiaries in the states and union territories. Lakh kidney patients have been registered.
Recently I had to go to Medanta The Medicity (Gurugram) several times for routine checkup to biopsy. Had to stay at night also. During this period, I saw hundreds of kidney patients there. From children to the elderly. Some were on dialysis and some were preparing for transplant. So some came for the first time. It seemed that our country has the highest number of kidney patients in the world. When I did some research on this, I found out that this is true.
According to the data of March 2023, about 10 percent of the country’s population is suffering from some kidney disease i.e. 1 crore 41 lakh people. These figures seemed even more true when according to a report of the Union Health Ministry on June 2023, 20 lakh kidney patients have been registered in the Prime Minister’s National Dialysis Program for BPL beneficiaries in 36 states and union territories of the country.
If to this are added those people who undergo dialysis in charitable institutions or private hospitals, then just imagine how big this number will become. And this is the situation when dialysis is not a cure but just a means of survival. No matter what kind of hospital it is, the cost of dialysis is around Rs 4000. Two dialysis are required in a week, which means Rs 8000 and Rs 32 thousand per month.
Only two options to survive
Talking about the increasing number of dialysis patients, Dr. Dinesh Yadav (Senior Nephrologist, Medanta) said that after kidney failure, the only two options for survival are dialysis or transplant. When I mentioned the news like “artificial kidney”, “lab grown organs”, “pig kidney transplanted into humans”, he said that all these are limited to labs right now.
Today lakhs of people are alive on dialysis but life gets tied up in it. One has to face all kinds of pressure – physical, mental and financial. A dialysis takes two-three hours and also costs money. Therefore, if a donor is found then there is nothing better than a transplant.
Transplant means new life
Dr. Yadav said that after the transplant, the patient can live almost the same life as before. Can go to work. Can move around comfortably. No restrictions on eating. Sex life gets better. Fertility increases. Women can become pregnant. Despite all this, people do not go for transplant, why do they remain on dialysis? Responding to this he said that the reason for this was non-availability of donor. Apart from this, confusion spread regarding expenses. Understand that it is very expensive. Whereas the transplant is done within the same amount that would be spent on dialysis for two and a half to three years. But this is possible only when a donor of the same blood group is found. It is best if the donor is a parent, sibling or close relative. The reason is that having a DNA match reduces the chances of rejection.
Difficult to get donor due to small family
Talking about the donor, Dr. Yadav said that due to the small size of the family, it is becoming difficult to find a donor of similar DNA, let alone a marginal donor. In such a situation, the only option left is that of a deceased donor (cadaver kidney). That is, those who lose their lives in accident/cardiac arrest/brain stroke should be given kidney transplant. But this is possible only when the relatives of the deceased are ready for organ donation.
In our country, an average of 12 thousand kidney transplants are done every year whereas the need is more than 2.25 lakh. Such a huge demand can be met only when people understand the importance of organ donation and donate organs voluntarily.
Of the total kidney transplants done in the country, 90 percent of the kidneys come from living donors. Only 10 percent comes from a deceased donor. Whereas according to the data released by the Government of India in January 2024, more than 1.5 lakh people lose their lives in road accidents every year in the country. Similarly, the number of deaths due to cardiac arrest/stroke is also in lakhs. If the relatives of half of them are ready to donate their organs, then the patients waiting for a donor for transplant can get a new life.
How long to live after transplant?
Answering this, Dr. Yadav said that the kidney obtained from a living donor lasts comfortably for 20-25 years. Today there are many patients whose transplant was done in 1976, they are still completely healthy. How long the kidney will last depends on the self-care of the patient and the age of the donor at the time of donation. A kidney received from a young donor can last up to 25 years, a kidney received from parents or siblings can last up to 30 years and a kidney received from a twin brother or sister can last up to the entire life.
Talking about the kidney transplant received from a deceased donor, Dr. Yadav said that if the patient takes medicines on time and follows the doctor’s advice, then 15 years pass easily. There are also cases in which the kidney received from a brain dead donor has been working fine for 30 years.
Expenses and legal formalities
Organ donation for transplant is legal in our country. All adults in the country can donate organs voluntarily. If the family members of a deceased or brain dead person wish, they can donate their organs. For this they do not need any additional legal formalities.
Any healthy person between the age of 18 to 70 can donate one of his kidneys. The only condition is that the blood group matches that of the patient and the lymphocyte cross match HLA antibodies are in accordance with the medical requirements. If we talk about the cost of transplant, it costs approximately Rs 10.5 lakh.
Who can become an organ donor?
Close relatives of the patient such as parents, wife, siblings, grandparents, sons/daughters, grandsons/grandchildren can donate kidneys voluntarily. When the blood groups of the patient and the donor do not match, doctors recommend swap kidney transplant. A swap kidney transplant involves two patients whose donors give a kidney to the other patient instead of giving the kidney to their own patient. There is neither any extra cost nor any side effects. If someone does not have a donor then he can apply for a cadaver kidney. Cadaver kidney means kidney obtained from a dead person.
And finally…..
It is a matter of concern that our country has the highest number of kidney patients in the world and their number is increasing day by day. Therefore, it is the duty of all of us to promote organ donation as much as possible. If this body can be useful to someone after death, nothing is better than this. Remember, there have been donors like Maharishi Dadhich in our country. Who donated his bones while alive to save mankind. We are their descendants. Can’t we donate organs after death to give new life to our people? Ages have passed, even today Dadhich is remembered as the greatest donor. They are immortal even after death. We cannot become Maharishi Dadhich, but we can definitely give new life to people by following him after death. Therefore, all of you are requested to promote organ donation as much as possible. After death everything turns to dust. But by donating organs we can survive even after death.