Bir Hospital, the country’s oldest hospital, is all set to use kidneys of clinically dead (brain dead) patients to transplant it to needy patients.
Speaking at a programme Tuesday, Dr Pukar Chandra Shrestha, chief, Kidney Transplant Unit (KTU), Bir Hospital, said due to lack of kidney donors, kidney transplantation was not possible for many kidney failure patients.He stated around 100 people have brain death every year, from which they can get 200 kidneys to transplant it on patients with kidney failure.
The hospital has recently established a desk to fill form for organ donation in KTU. He said, “It is estimated that there are three million patients with kidney failure in Nepal. Only 10 per cent of patients with kidney failure have access to dialysis — temporary treatment for removing waste and excess water from the blood of a patient with acute disturbance in kidney functioning.”
He stated that since dialysis was costly and there was risk of transferring communicable diseases such HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B and others while using dialysis machine, kidney transplant was a reliable life saving option for patients with chronic kidney malfunction.
Dr Shrestha said Bir Hospital and Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) began kidney transplantation in 2004 and 2008 respectively. Till date, 63 kidney-failure patients have had successful kidney transplant from Bir Hospital.
He also charged the government of not having flexible policies for kidney donors.
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