Transplantation is the act of surgical removal of an organ from one person and placing it into another person. Transplantation is needed when the recipient's organ has failed or has been damaged due to illness or injury.

Here are some end stage diseases which can be cured by the transplantation:

Diseases	Organs
heart failure	Heart
terminal lung illnesses	Lungs
kidney failure	Kidneys
liver failure	Liver
Diabetes	Pancreas
Corneal Blindness	Eyes
Heart Valvular disease	Heart valve
severe burns	Skin

Organ donation and Transplant Guide, Transplant Coordinator and Treating Registered Medical Practitioner will explain you about the process of Transplant.

Organ Donation and transplant Guide is a member of NGO or Foundation. It is a ‘Patient centric’ role. The role operates outside hospital as well as inside hospitals and it starts from patient’s diagnosis of chronic terminal illness or organ problem. Guide provide awareness and guidance in combatting diagnosed problem. The Guide conduct Organ donation as well as Transplant awareness workshops. Its Goal is to help patients in preparedness for transplant, decision making, verification of billing, assistance in saving medicines and pathological test expenses. This is a New concept and it fills existing gap in the system.

Transplant coordinators are often Staff of Hospital. Their role is Hospital centric. This role is inside hospitals and it coordinates between different departments. Role starts from admission to hospital in pre-transplant phase. They provide hospital updates during pre-transplant, transplant and post-transplant phases. Goal is that the pre-operative evaluation process is thorough, and the postoperative period uncomplicated. They act as a liaison among other team members for coordinated effort and exist in every hospital. The transplant coordinator has to counsel the grieved family, make them comfortable and approach the subject of eye donation and later on solid organ donation. If the family gives consent for organ retrieval, then the coordinator has to inform the Nodal Officer and coordinate with the ICU staff to maintain the patient on ventilator and organize organ retrieval. The coordinator has to ensure that all paperwork is correctly done and that the family receives the body as soon as possible.

Till few years back, transplant cost both for donor as well as recipient was not covered by most of the insurance companies. Now a day many insurance companies are covering cost related to transplant. It will be better to be sure when you are going for insurance.

Yes, patient should be fit for transplant and age is one of the criteria for assessing fitness of patient for transplant.

The patient can register for inclusion in the waiting list through a registered transplant hospital. The treating physician of the hospital shall make an evaluation (based on medical history, current condition of health, and other factors) and decide if the patient needs a transplant and meets the criteria to be listed. Like for kidney transplant, other than blood group, main criteria is time since patient is on regular dialysis. Similarly, for other organs, criteria are different based on medical history, current condition of health, and other factors.

Every patient who has developed end stage organ failure may not be fit for organ transplant. Basic principle is that patient must be screened on medical grounds (based on medical history, current condition of health, and other factors) for the development of end stage organ failure. Your treating doctor will decide whether you are medically fit for transplant and other issues before listing in the wait list.

Once you are added to the national organ transplant waiting list, you may receive an organ on the same day, or you may have to wait many years. Factors affecting are how well you match with the donor, how sick you are, and how many donors are available in your local area compared to the number of patients waiting.

There is a huge disparity between demand and supply for transplant. There are more numbers of patients requiring different organs as compared to number of organs available for transplantation. That is why there is urgent need to create awareness about organ donation. As more persons decide to take the pledge and donate organs, the waiting list will go down.

When a transplant hospital adds an individual to the waiting list, it is placed in a pool of names. When any deceased organ donor becomes available, all the patients in the pool are compared to that donor. Factors such as medical urgency, time spent on the waiting list, organ size, blood type and genetic makeup are considered.

This query can only be answered by the treating doctor depending upon medical condition and stage of damage of the organ. For example in a case of kidney failure, dialysis is an alternative treatment and for kidney failure patient transplant is usually not an emergency. Also, for a heart failure patient, some patients can be maintained on artificial cardiac assistive devices. Similarly for other organs criterias are different, that can be maintained on medical therapies for the time being.

Yes, it may be better to be mentally prepared and have adequate funds for an urgent organ transplant. Cadaver transplant is mostly on urgent basis. That is why it is better that your investigations for cadaver transplant are updated all the time so that whenever you receive a call, you can get the organ. Getting a cadaver organ is a gift and one should not miss it.

No, getting a call for transplant does not mean that you will definitely receive an organ. The transplant team will examine your immediate fitness for transplant. There is possibility that the tests done just before possible transplant may not be normal to make you fit for transplant. Further, more than one patient is called for possible transplant and it may be a chance that someone else will be more fit than you for that particular organ transplant.

No, in Cadaver Organ Donation Programme confidentiality is always maintained, unlike in the case of living donors who usually already know each other.
If the family wishes, they will be given some brief details such as the age and sex of the person or persons who have benefited from the donation. Patients who receive organs can obtain similar details about their donors. It is not always possible to provide recipient information to donor families for some types of tissue transplant.
Those who have wish to exchange anonymous letters of thanks or good wishes they can do it through the transplant coordinator. In some instances donor families and recipients have arranged to meet.

As per protocol, patients who require cadaver organs are put in the waiting list. But in India, number of patients requiring organs are more as compared to number of organs available.
There are two types of waiting list; one is urgent waiting list and another one is regular waiting list. Urgent listing of patients for cadaver organ transplant is primarily based on medical criteria, i.e. patient needs organ on urgent basis otherwise he/she may not survive.
Regular waiting list is also based on medical criteria and these criteria are different for different organs. Like for kidney transplant, main criteria is time spent on regular dialysis. Similarly, for other organs, criteria are different.

The organs would be distributed locally within the State first, and if no match is found, they are then offered regionally, and then nationally, until a recipient is found. Every attempt would be made to utilize donor organs.

As per the Transplantation of Human Organ Act 1994, sequence of allocation of organs shall be in the following order: State List-Regional list-National List-Person of Indian Origin-Foreigner.