While kidney transplants in India are typically performed using organs donated by a family member or a matching deceased donor, swap transplants—or paired kidney exchanges—allow for organ sharing between two incompatible donor-recipient pairs. This method is already in practice globally for cases where direct donation isn’t feasible due to blood or tissue mismatch.
Although the Indian Transplantation of Human Organs Act formally recognised swap transplants in 2011, the practice has seen limited uptake, resulting in only a few hundred such procedures over the years, the report said.
In a move to scale up these numbers, the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) issued a directive on April 16 to all states and union territories, encouraging implementation of swap transplants. The letter, signed by NOTTO director Dr. Anil Kumar, cited a decision taken at the 2024 Chintan Shivir to develop a “uniform one nation, one swap transplant programme,” including a standardised document list for swap donation and transplant approvals.
Experts believe the initiative could increase the number of transplants by up to 15%.
Dr. Jatin Kothari, who founded the Apex Swap Transplant Registry in Mumbai in 2010, welcomed the move and expressed hope for the creation of India’s first national swap registry. “A national registry would be the right step forward. There is a national swap registry in the US, and there is a common registry across Europe for swaps,” he told ToI.According to the NOTTO letter, patients seeking swap transplants will need to submit specific documents for approval to their respective state authorisation committees.With inputs from TOICentre Pushes for ‘One Nation, One Swap Transplant’ System to Boost Kidney Donations
