At least 2 pairs of eyes are donated in Coimbatore daily whereas only 4 come forward to donate skin in a month. In India, only 2% of skin needed to help patients are received as donations.
On National Organ Donation Awareness Day, Ganga Hospital arranged an exhibition on Skin Donation through which every aspect of skin donation was elucidated for the benefit of the public.
The exhibition answers question like ‘Who would need the skin?’, ‘who can donate skin?’, “how is the donated skin collected?’, ‘will there be any disfigurement following the donation?’, etc. through neat illustrations and models. It has answers to all thoughts that would arise in minds of people when thinking of becoming a skin donor. The exhibition will be available for one week.
Dr.Shanmuganathan and Kanakavalli Shanmuganathan, Founders, Ganga Hospital inaugurated the exhibition in the presence of Dr.Raja Sabapathy, Director and Chairman of the Division of Plastic Surgery of Ganga Hospital.
Dr.Raja Sabapathy shared that a serious-burn victim needs new skin asap, so that the injured/burnt regions of the body can be given protection from infection, the pain could be alleviated and it also act as a temporary dressing but is vitally important for the patient’s own skin to regenerate.
He said that anyone who has passed away can donate skin within 6 hours after death. Only those who had serious infections and communicable diseases are deemed ineligible for donation. Only about 0.3mm thickness of skin is removed from thighs, legs and back of the donor, and there will not be any bleeding. He emphasized that there will not be any deformity to the donor. The harvested skin will be verified and then processed. The doctor conveyed that processed skin will have a shelf-life of upto 5 years. 
It must be mentioned that Ganga Hospital runs one of South India’s largest skin banks, and it supports an additional number of burn victims in more than a dozen hospitals that need skin. Dr.Raja Sabapathy requested people to think about becoming skin and eye donors. He said the hospital’s team would come in person to the departed person’s house to harvest the skin and would complete the process in 45 mins.
For info regarding skin donation, dial 9865911234.
