JJ Hospital claims it is unable to convince family members of patients for the procedure as most of them are not much educated about organ donation
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Even as one of Mumbai’s prominent private hospitals is under the scanner for allegedly operating a kidney transplant racket, the JJ Hospital, which is the city’s largest government hospital has conducted only five kidney transplants in the last five years under the state-sponsored health scheme for the poor, Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayee Arogya Yojana (RGJAY) according to data from the state’s Directorate of Health Services.
JJ far behind
Despite being equipped with the infrastructure to carry out kidney transplants, JJ Hospital is far behind in conducting the procedure for poor patients with kidney ailments.
The hospital authority claims that most of the patients they receive are uneducated regarding transplants, and because of this, they fail to convince patients’ relatives for the organ donation. Most of the patients who come to state-run hospitals are from a poor socio-economic background. NGOs and in-house counsellors counsel the kin of such patients.
'Challenging to convince'
“Most of the patients that we get are from the lower middle class who lack proper knowledge about organ donations. It becomes very challenging to convince such patients for transplants. But still, we try to convince them for donations,” said Dr TP Lahane, dean of the JJ group of hospitals.
KEM leads
Meanwhile, in the same time period, KEM Hospital has done the highest number of kidney transplants with 92 cases recorded so far. Sion and Nair hospital have conducted 16 kidney transplants in the same period.
“When we see that a patient is brain dead with no chances of recovery, we have counsellors who speak to the patients’ relatives and convince them to donate the organs of the patients that would help in saving lives of other patients who need kidney transplants,” said Dr Avinash Supe, dean of KEM hospital and Director of Medical Education and Major Hospitals in the BMC.
Money provided
Per kidney transplant, the government provides anywhere between '1,40,000 to '1,60,000 to the hospitals. In the last five years, the state health department has spent more than R6 crore under RGJAY for poor patients in need of kidney transplants. In '2,01,25,105 in 2014, '2,33,77,800 in 2015 and so far this year, '93,09,537 has been spent for kidney transplants. Since KEM has conducted the highest number of kidney transplants, the hospital received a total of '1,24,06,029 under RGJAY.
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