Family of road accident victim donates skin under Telangana's Jeevandan programme

HYDERABAD: In a rare instance, a family from Narsapur in Medak has donated the skin of their brother — along with his other organs like kidneys and liver — after he was declared brain dead on Thursday. According to officials of Telangana's Jeevandan programme, this is only the third such instance reported from the state since it started skin donation in 2023.
Currently, Telangana is the top state when it comes to organ donations, with a 5.4% organ donation rate per million population as against the national rate of 0.8%.
But families are often reluctant to the idea of donating skin, said Jeevandan officials, adding how getting their consent for it is far more difficult than for other organs.
"Most families do not give consent. Because while in the case of cornea or organ donation, there is no disfigurement, in case of skin (taken from lower limbs and back), we have to bandage the body before handing it over to the family," said Dr Bhanu Chandra, senior transplant coordinator for Jeevandan, Osmania General Hospital (OGH) where the recent donation was recorded. The donation was also made to the OGH skin bank.
On Sept 15, 46-year-old street vendor Bidimatta Murgender Swamy, suffered a severe head injury and bleeding from the ear when he lost control of his two-wheeler at Sadashivpet village and met with an accident. He was initially taken to the govt hospital in Sadashivpet, from where he was referred to OGH. After showing improvement for a day, his condition deteriorated, and despite being put on ventilator support, he did not survive.
"When we were initially told about him being brain dead, we had a few questions. But once we were counselled, we understood that there was no way to bring him back. So, when we were given this option to help other families who are about to lose their loved one and were told that the choice is entirely ours, we agreed," said Nagaiah Swamy, the patient's younger brother. He added: "We already knew about donation. So, the entire family — my brother's wife, his son, me, my two other brothers, and my mother — discussed it and arrived at a decision to donate."
But Jeevandan officials reiterate that skin donation is a rarity. Apart from the three donations recorded under Jeevandan so far, Dr Chandra said that there have been just a few other cases where families similarly donated, after being counselled.