Sushma Swaraj To Get Kidney Transplant: 7 Things You Should Know

Kidney transplants aren’t an instant fix after organ failure. Here’s everything you should know about this surgery.

Sushma Swaraj is admitted in the cardio-neurosciences centre of AIIMS and undergoing a battery of tests to confirm that she is transplant-ready. (Photo: PTI altered by The Quint)

Two decades of diabetes has caused 64-year-old External Affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj’s kidneys to shut down. Admitted in the Capital’s premier medical institute, AIIMS, she will undergo a transplant soon.

According to sources in the hospital, the minister’s creatinine levels, which measure how well the kidneys are functioning, were around 5 mg%; normally it should range from 0.80 mg% to 1.21 mg%. The higher the creatinine levels, the more damaged the kidneys.

So is transplant the last resort for the minister? If you or your relatives are in the same boat, go through these FAQs about kidney transplant.

1. The Organ Donation Gap Is Ghastly In India

In 2015, one thousand kidney transplants took place in NCR and the waiting list at AIIMS, where the External Affairs minister is admitted, is usually 8 months. (Photo: iStock)

Last year around 5 lakh Indians died while waiting for an organ transplant. We have 0.2 donors per million population, besides the acute shortage of organs, one in five patients who needs a transplant is an incompatible match. Clearly Swaraj won’t be spoilt for choice here.

2. Kidney Transplant Is Not Urgent Like Liver or Heart Transplant

Two to four lakh Indians develop end stage kidney disease, or kidney failure every year. The number is huge but unlike heart, lung or liver; kidney transplant is not the last resort for these patients.

In fact to many patients, it is offered as the first line of treatment when kidneys start failing. The alternative is dialysis. It involves getting a tube placed in the abdomen and being tethered to a blood-cleansing machine, three times a week, four debilitating hours at a time.

Related Read: Remarkable Discovery Could Change Kidney Transplants Forever

3. Transplantation versus Dialysis

This is a dialysis machine, it imitates the kidneys and patients on dialysis begin to feel better quickly but being chained to a machine to stay alive means that simple things like working full time, travelling become limited. (Photo: iStock)

Dialysis performs the functions that healthy kidneys would ordinarily do  – they clean the body’s blood supply but getting tied to a machine for three to four hours, thrice a week isn’t anyone’s idea of a quality life.

The cost is roughly Rs 20,000 a month and people drag on with dialysis only till their name crawls up the transplant list.

Transplants, on the other hand are not risk-free but the benefits outweigh the risks. On an average, kidney transplants add four years of life, according to medical journal JAMA. It is a major surgery, requires round-the-clock aftercare, nearly two-years of regular tests and follow-up procedures and a heavy dose of immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of your life, so that the organ is not rejected by the body.

4. Whose Kidneys Will the Minister Get?

Only 1% of Indians donate their organs after death but that figure is as high as 70-80% in the West - Mohan Foundation. (Photo: iStock)

According to the Human Organ Transplantation Act of 1994, Sushma Swaraj will be on a list to get a kidney from a brain dead donor or a close relative - the success rate of living transplants is higher than that done from a cadaver.

In April this year, after scrambling from months, the Union Health Ministry drafted guidelines for cadaver-based guidelines which had a framework to prioritise organ supply. You can read in details about it here.

5. Transplants Don’t Last Forever

Also, after a transplant, people can have massive blood pressure fluctuations, so a beta blocker is added to the long list of medications as well. (Photo: iStock)

A transplanted organ doesn’t last forever - 10% people die after a kidney transplant after the first year, 17% by the end of the third year. Even if you are going strong, organs tend to ‘wear out’ and will have to be replaced by new ones.

Also Read: Kidney Patient? Read How the New Transplant Policy Will Affect You

6. A Transplanted Organ Can Carry a Hidden Disease

Most transplants are safe and necessary yet infections occur because organ donations are done in a crisis, sometimes infections are false negative at first, since time is of essence, it’s not always tested again, screening protocols also vary tremendously across hospitals. (Photo: iStock)

Organs are carefully screened for infections and diseases, yet doctors say, every year 1 to 2% people contract a hidden disease along with the organ. This could be a gross under estimation as well because no one is monitoring post-transplant care on a national level.

Infectious diseases can be bacterial infections, hepatitis B and C, parasitic illness and in very unfortunate and rare cases, cancer and HIV as well.

Also Read: Organ Donation Gap: Less than 1% Indians Donate Organs

7. The Cost Of Transplant Is Huge, Not For a Sitting Minister Though

At a private hospital, for an ordinary patient the cost of a kidney transplant can be up to rupees eight lakhs, after-care not included.

Post-surgery, Swaraj can actively get back to office within a month or two.

But remember that half a million Indians die on the wait-list of an organ transplant - there’s a dire donor crisis. If you are a healthy individual, registering to donate an organ takes lesser time than to make Maggi noodles, and it’s the nicest, kindest thing you’ll ever do.

Also Read: Kidneys For Sale: The Great Indian Scam