NEW DELHI: Foreigners account for nearly one in every 10 persons undergoing organ transplant in India, govt data shows. In 2023, data shared by National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation reveals, India recorded 18,378 organ transplants with 42 recipients getting more than one organ. So, there were a total 18,336 organ recipients in the country of which 1,851 (10%) were foreign nationals.
Transplants involving foreign nationals were carried out in Delhi (1,445), Rajasthan (116), West Bengal (88), UP (76), Telangana (61), Maharashtra (35), Karnataka (15), Gujarat (11), Tamil Nadu (3) and Manipur (1).
Doctors say a majority of such patients come from neighbouring nations where transplant facilities are not available or still in nascent stages, including Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar.
‘Foreigners mostly go for living donor transplants’
While the majority of foreigners receiving organ transplants in India come from neighbouring nations, some also come from developed nations like the US and UK for living donor transplants because the cost of the procedure is barely a tenth here compared with medical costs in their countries, Dr Subhash Gupta, liver transplant surgeon and chairman of Max Centre for Liver and Biliary Sciences, said. “Nearly 30% of patients undergoing liver transplant at our centre are foreigners,” he added.
An organ transplant involves removing an organ from a donor – living or deceased – and transplanting it into a needy patient.
The person who gives the organ is called the donor. The person who receives the organ is called the recipient. A living donor can donate kidney (as one kidney is capable of maintaining the body functions), a portion of pancreas (as half of the pancreas is adequate for sustaining pancreatic functions) and part of the liver (as the few segments that are donated will regenerate after a period of time). On the other hand, a deceased donor or person who is declared brain dead can donate multiple organs and tissues including the heart, lungs, liver, kidney, intestines and corneas.
Pallavi Kumar of Mohan Foundation, an NGO working in the field of organ donation, said deceased donations are rare in India and preference is given to Indians for receiving organs retrieved from such donors. “Most transplants involving foreigners are living donor transplants,” she said.
The NOTTO data also reflects this trend. It shows that of the 1,851 foreigner transplants that took place in India in 2023, only nine involved organ donation from a deceased donor.
“For living donor organ transplants involving foreigners, there are strict protocols and vetting is done at multiple levels to ascertain that the donor is a blood relative of the patient before allowing transplant,” Dr A S Soin, liver transplant surgeon and chairman of the Institute of Liver Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine, Medanta-The Medicity, said.
Recently, there were reports of commercial dealings in organ transplants involving foreign citizens after which the Centre issued a directive asking states/UTs to create a NOTTO (National Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organisation)-ID of all organ recipients, both for living and deceased donor-related organ transplants.
Transplants involving foreign nationals were carried out in Delhi (1,445), Rajasthan (116), West Bengal (88), UP (76), Telangana (61), Maharashtra (35), Karnataka (15), Gujarat (11), Tamil Nadu (3) and Manipur (1).
Doctors say a majority of such patients come from neighbouring nations where transplant facilities are not available or still in nascent stages, including Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar.
‘Foreigners mostly go for living donor transplants’
While the majority of foreigners receiving organ transplants in India come from neighbouring nations, some also come from developed nations like the US and UK for living donor transplants because the cost of the procedure is barely a tenth here compared with medical costs in their countries, Dr Subhash Gupta, liver transplant surgeon and chairman of Max Centre for Liver and Biliary Sciences, said. “Nearly 30% of patients undergoing liver transplant at our centre are foreigners,” he added.
An organ transplant involves removing an organ from a donor – living or deceased – and transplanting it into a needy patient.
The person who gives the organ is called the donor. The person who receives the organ is called the recipient. A living donor can donate kidney (as one kidney is capable of maintaining the body functions), a portion of pancreas (as half of the pancreas is adequate for sustaining pancreatic functions) and part of the liver (as the few segments that are donated will regenerate after a period of time). On the other hand, a deceased donor or person who is declared brain dead can donate multiple organs and tissues including the heart, lungs, liver, kidney, intestines and corneas.
Pallavi Kumar of Mohan Foundation, an NGO working in the field of organ donation, said deceased donations are rare in India and preference is given to Indians for receiving organs retrieved from such donors. “Most transplants involving foreigners are living donor transplants,” she said.
The NOTTO data also reflects this trend. It shows that of the 1,851 foreigner transplants that took place in India in 2023, only nine involved organ donation from a deceased donor.
“For living donor organ transplants involving foreigners, there are strict protocols and vetting is done at multiple levels to ascertain that the donor is a blood relative of the patient before allowing transplant,” Dr A S Soin, liver transplant surgeon and chairman of the Institute of Liver Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine, Medanta-The Medicity, said.
Recently, there were reports of commercial dealings in organ transplants involving foreign citizens after which the Centre issued a directive asking states/UTs to create a NOTTO (National Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organisation)-ID of all organ recipients, both for living and deceased donor-related organ transplants.