Tuesday, November 1, 2016

A Catholic priest in Kerala India helps organize kidney transplant chains

Business of Kidneys: Kerala priest facilitates domino transplants for over fifty patients

"Nephrologists at New Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences estimate that five lakh people live with failed kidneys in India at a time. A Lancet study revealed that just 10 per cent of patients suffering from kidney failure have access to dialysis, and 70 per cent of those starting dialysis die or discontinue treatment within the first three months due to the high cost of the treatment.
"The Catholic priest in Kerala's Thrissur district mooted a chain of kidney exchanges with a voluntary donor offering a kidney to a needy person, and a relative of this recipient in turn donating his/her kidney to another person, and so on. This system is known as 'Domino Transplant'. In the last five years, 56 people have been part of such kidney exchange chains, linking disparate people from industrialists to truck drivers in a chain. Two hundred others have pledged to join the chains when compatible donor-recipient pairings are established. Fr Davis Chiramel says the numbers could have been higher but for the poor medical infrastructure it could not."


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