Now Reading: Four months on, no multi-pair kidney swap transplant in Karnataka
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Four months on, no multi-pair kidney swap transplant in Karnataka
Four months after Karnataka became the first State to frame multi-pair kidney paired exchange guidelines, not a single such transplant has been done. Only one request reached the State Authorisation Committee and…
The Story in Brief
Four months after Karnataka became the first State to frame multi-pair kidney paired exchange guidelines, not a single such transplant has been done. Only one request reached the State Authorisation Committee and was approved, but the swap fell through due to a misunderstanding between the families. The guidelines, notified on April 4 under the THOTA Act, allow three or more donor-recipient pairs with incompatible donors to exchange kidneys. Dr M. Shivalingaiah, committee chairman, said greater awareness among potential pairs is needed for the framework to work. He added that patients with compatible donors within a swap group must cooperate for the benefit to reach them.
The Indian Opinion
The usual blame-the-government reflex misses the point here. Karnataka’s guidelines are sound and the single approved request failed not because of red tape but because donor-recipient families could not coordinate. Instead of calling the policy toothless, critics should ask why only one application reached the committee in four months. The real test will come when the health department runs awareness campaigns in local languages: will the number of applications rise or will eligible patients continue to stay away?
Source: thehindu.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
