NEW DELHI: Patients with chronic kidney disease have done little, Sandeep Bhatnagar (51), principal of a school in Raipur, Chhattisgarh and CG Hanumantua civilian contractor of Mahubnagar in Telangana, know that their destinies were intertwined. They underwent a rare inter-hospital interstate exchange transplant (donors are exchanged and matched with recipients) which was recently performed by a team of doctors at two hospitals in Hyderabad.
Both men were waiting for a kidney donor but did not have a suitable match in the family, even though their wives were ready to donate for them. Definitely, Hindu Bhatnagar (40), Sandeep’s wife donated a kidney to Hanumanthu (37), while Varalaxmi (37), Hanumanthu’s wife donated a kidney to Sandeep.
The two couples from Chhattisgarh and Telangana underwent four surgeries simultaneously with real-time video streaming. Eight months of documentation and paperwork went into the complex exercise. Doctors said this paved the way for increasing kidney transplants by 5,000-6,000 a year. Currently, about 10,000 transplants are performed in the country each year. “There are many legal issues involved and several trips have been necessary. To eliminate any possibility of a couple withdrawing consent after one of the surgeries, all four had to have surgeries at the exact time and date (December 9),” said Dr. KS Nayak, Chief nephrologist and head of the department of nephrology and kidney transplantation, Virinchi hospital, where one of the donor-recipient surgeries was performed.
The data showed that 90% of people waiting for a transplant do not know about the exchange transplant. By demonstrating how the donor pool can be expanded beyond cities and states, doctors hope to open the door for more such transplants. Dr Sreedhar Reddy, chief nephrologist at KIMS hospitals where the second donor-recipient surgeries took place, said: ‘Patients with stage 5 chronic kidney disease (CKD) have only two options: dialysis and transplantation. Studies show that less than half of patients needing dialysis actually have access to it, getting an organ match is even more difficult. The families worked hard to get the paperwork approved by both states.
While there have also been exchanges within the same hospital in Mumbai, Dr Vishwanath Billanephrologist and founding director Apex Kidney Care – who has undergone exchange transplants – said: ‘This is a one-off transplant. Something like this has now become a necessity in a county like ours. We need to look outside of our existing donor pool, across states and even countries.” Meanwhile, the two recipients have recovered and are now in good creatinine.
Over the past year and a half, the two couples had become friends. Being barely able to converse with each other, they now stay at each other’s houses when travelling. “They came as saviors for us, so whenever they (CT Hanumanthu and Varalaxmi) had to travel to Raipur, we would invite them to stay with us. We also visited them,” said Indu Bhatnagar, one of the donors. They even learned to appreciate each other’s cooking and their children became friends. “We met because of this common problem in our families, but we have gained friends for life. It’s so satisfying to see that both families are healthy and happy.”
Both men were waiting for a kidney donor but did not have a suitable match in the family, even though their wives were ready to donate for them. Definitely, Hindu Bhatnagar (40), Sandeep’s wife donated a kidney to Hanumanthu (37), while Varalaxmi (37), Hanumanthu’s wife donated a kidney to Sandeep.
The two couples from Chhattisgarh and Telangana underwent four surgeries simultaneously with real-time video streaming. Eight months of documentation and paperwork went into the complex exercise. Doctors said this paved the way for increasing kidney transplants by 5,000-6,000 a year. Currently, about 10,000 transplants are performed in the country each year. “There are many legal issues involved and several trips have been necessary. To eliminate any possibility of a couple withdrawing consent after one of the surgeries, all four had to have surgeries at the exact time and date (December 9),” said Dr. KS Nayak, Chief nephrologist and head of the department of nephrology and kidney transplantation, Virinchi hospital, where one of the donor-recipient surgeries was performed.
The data showed that 90% of people waiting for a transplant do not know about the exchange transplant. By demonstrating how the donor pool can be expanded beyond cities and states, doctors hope to open the door for more such transplants. Dr Sreedhar Reddy, chief nephrologist at KIMS hospitals where the second donor-recipient surgeries took place, said: ‘Patients with stage 5 chronic kidney disease (CKD) have only two options: dialysis and transplantation. Studies show that less than half of patients needing dialysis actually have access to it, getting an organ match is even more difficult. The families worked hard to get the paperwork approved by both states.
While there have also been exchanges within the same hospital in Mumbai, Dr Vishwanath Billanephrologist and founding director Apex Kidney Care – who has undergone exchange transplants – said: ‘This is a one-off transplant. Something like this has now become a necessity in a county like ours. We need to look outside of our existing donor pool, across states and even countries.” Meanwhile, the two recipients have recovered and are now in good creatinine.
Over the past year and a half, the two couples had become friends. Being barely able to converse with each other, they now stay at each other’s houses when travelling. “They came as saviors for us, so whenever they (CT Hanumanthu and Varalaxmi) had to travel to Raipur, we would invite them to stay with us. We also visited them,” said Indu Bhatnagar, one of the donors. They even learned to appreciate each other’s cooking and their children became friends. “We met because of this common problem in our families, but we have gained friends for life. It’s so satisfying to see that both families are healthy and happy.”
