SKIMS achieves landmark with first swap kidney transplant in J-K

SRINAGAR — In its continuous efforts to enhance advances in patient care, the Department of Urology & Kidney Transplant SKIMS achieved a major milestone by performing a swap kidney transplant today. This is the first swap kidney transplant done in UT of J&K.

Director SKIMS, EOSG complimented Prof. Saleem Wani, HOD Urology & KTU and associate departments for this significant achievement. He said patient care is a top priority at SKIMS and the swap transplant done by the Department of Urology & KTU is a major breakthrough in kidney transplant and our commitment towards new advances in patient care.

HOD, Urology & KTU Prof. Saleem Wani while giving details said, “This is landmark surgery done by the SKIMS and is a major milestone set in the kidney transplantation.”

He said one patient aged 59 years from south Kashmir suffering from diabetes and ESRD on dialysis since November 2022 had a wife as his only kidney donor. However, they had a positive CDC cross-match due to which kidney transplant was not possible.

Another patient from Bandipora aged 33 years with CKD stage 5 had a mother as his only kidney donor whose blood group did not match which precluded a kidney transplant. On swap (donor exchange), both patients received blood group-matched and immunologically compatible kidney donation.

Prof. Wani stressed that “swap transplant is one of the ways to counter organ shortage as organ shortage is a main hurdle in kidney transplant.” He said that with the successful conduct of the first swap kidney transplant, SKIMS has set the ball rolling for enhancing the donor pool.

He said it requires a lot of logistics and expertise as two transplants are performed in a single day, which is burdensome but SKIMS with all its capabilities performed the surgery successfully and created a ray of hope for the helpless patients.

He said SKIMS is a major contributor to the organ transplant program of the country, filling a major gap as one lac eighty thousand kidney failure patients need kidney transplants in India in a year and only 6000 kidney transplants are done.

He said SKIMS has so far done more than 550 kidney transplants successfully. Organ shortage being a limiting factor, he underscored the importance of cadaver transplant, swap transplant and ABO incompatible transplant which he said is a way forward to give a new lease of life to patients suffering from kidney failure.

He said the Department of Urology & KTU is taking serious measures to work out the cadaver transplant and in this direction, various awareness programs are being conducted in coordination with SOTTO (State Organ & Tissue Transplant Organization).

He also said that the Departments of Urology & KTU, Nephrology, and Immunology are working in close coordination to set another milestone by starting ABO incompatible kidney transplant in the near future.

Prof. Wani lauded the Department of Nephrology, Department of Anaesthesia, and Department of Immunology for their constant support and close coordination. He thanked and complimented the entire team of KTU, Urology OT and all members including Prof. Arif Hamid, Dr Rouf Khawaja, Dr Sajad Malik, Dr Sajad Para, Dr Saqib (Urology), Prof. Ashraf Bhat, Prof. Imtiyaz Wani, Prof. Muzaffar Wani, Dr Manzoor, Dr Rais (Nephrology), Prof. Showkat Gurcoo, Dr Khalid (Anesthesiology) and Prof. Zaffar Amin Shah (Immunology). He also appreciated the role of Kidney Transplant Coordinators—Ms. Yasmin and Ms. Ishrat—for their efforts in counselling the families.