In the last 5 years, 96 kidney transplants were done at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) located in Patna, with the most recent kidney transplant done on 1st March 2023.

Out of all the transplants, only one transplant was done by taking a kidney from a brain dead patient,

Dr Manish Mandal, Medical Superintendent at IGIMS said on world kidney day that they want to expand the kidney transplant facilities. For this purpose, they are opening more operation theatres and plan to carry out large scale awareness among the people.

He admits as kidney related diseases have reached an alarming level in the last few years, IGIMS conducts special camps in various schools, colleges, government and private offices every month from January 2023.

Dr Amresh Krishna, Nephrologist and also incharge of kidney transplant at IGIMS said 4 more patients went for authorisation in the second week of March.

He said that kidney transplant is the last measure taken to revive the dysfunctional kidneys. It is a long and tiring process involving a lot of test observations, government authorization as well as arranging a donor. He said -

"It is a planned surgery. For transplant, 2 OTs became active simultaneously as experts in one retrieve a kidney from the donor's body while another team places it in the recipient's in another OT. The entire process takes about 3 hours,"

The kidney has to be transplanted within a duration of 12 hours from its retrieval from the donor's body. However, at times it takes more time but not more than 24 hours in any case, he clarified.

In the month of March, 12 patients were in different stages of kidney transplant procedure at IGIMS, this generally takes up to 3 months

He said, the donors are registered and tested to see if they are suitable for the donation. In case there is an adverse impact on their health, the donation process stops.

At IGIMS, the total expenditure on kidney transplant is approximately Rs 3.5 lakh. However, the kidney transplant is free for patients with less than Rs 2 lakh annual income as the Bihar government bears all their expenditure.

There is a rise in kidney diseases in Bihar due to high blood pressure, lack of physical activities, diabetes and unhealthy lifestyle habits. On an average basis, 150-200 patients visit the kidney department OPD 30 patients undergo dialysis everyday at IGIMS.

Dr Krishna revealed the younger generation around 40 years of age suffer from kidney problems these days because of junk food consumption and taking painkillers without prescriptions. Kidney problems are more prevalent in the urban areas as people living in rural areas do more physical work and hardly any options for junk food.