It was a tough decision for a 45-year-old woman to accept her 75-year-old mother's kidney. The mother, resident of Kurla, had a tough time to convince her daughter that even after donating a kidney, she will stay alive.
It was a tough decision for a 45-year-old woman to accept her 75-year-old mother's kidney. The mother, resident of Kurla, had a tough time to convince her daughter that even after donating a kidney, she will stay alive.
"The daughter was not ready to accept her mother's kidney because of her age. It took us months before she got convinced for the transplant," informed Dr BR Ramesh Rao, nephrologist at Kohinoor Hospital where the transplant was done.
According to the doctors, the daughter had high blood pressure which led to kidney failure. "She was advised kidney transplant. With absence of immediate family donor apart from her mother, she had to continue on dialysis thrice a week," said Dr Rao.
While she registered herself for a cadaver donor, her mother along with the doctors continued with their efforts to convince her for the live kidney transplant. "At 75, her mother had no lifestyle related diseases. She was fit for donating kidney. However, the daughter thought by accepting her mother's kidney, she was risking her life," said Dr Rao.
While senior citizens can be organ donor, it is found that many doctors are conservative about living kidney donors. According to Johns Hopkins research, nearly three-quarters of transplant centers have not accepted organs from people older than 70.
Mumbai doctors think otherwise. According to doctors, if the kidney function of senior citizens (above 60 years) is as good as any other person they are fit to donate. Doctors say that around 40 per cent of the kidney donors in Mumbai are people above 60 years of age.
"The elderly especially women form a large part of our donor pool. They are the true champions and need to be lauded for their invaluable sacrifice," said Dr Bharat Shah, nephrologist at Global Hospital and trustee of Narmada Kidney Foundation.
Rising numbers -
Up to four lakh patients suffer from chronic kidney end stage disease in India
Only one percent of patients get access to a kidney transplant
Patients with diabetes and high blood pressure tend to spoil their kidneys
Abuse of pain killers for aches leads to deterioration of kidney
Close to 600 patients are registered with the ZTCC to receive a kidney. The number of patients waiting is up to 10 times more than those who end up receiving one.
India has close to 1200 nephrologists practising across the country. There are 2500 dialysis centers with a total of approximately 20,000 dialysis machines, predominantly in the private sector (90%) and mainly concentrated in cities, especially metros. There are around 65,000 patients undergoing hemodialysis at these centers.
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