In a major advancement for public healthcare in India, AIIMS Raipur has successfully conducted its first-ever Swap Kidney Transplant—also known as a Kidney Paired Donation (KPD)—becoming the first government hospital in Chhattisgarh and the first among newer AIIMS institutions to achieve this complex milestone.
The transplant, performed on March 15, 2025, involved two end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients from Bilaspur, and has been hailed as a breakthrough for transplant medicine in the state.
What Is a Swap Kidney Transplant?
In traditional kidney transplants, a willing donor may not always be a compatible match. Swap kidney transplants solve this problem by exchanging donors between two pairs. If Person A’s donor is incompatible but matches Person B, and vice versa, the transplant teams swap the donors so both patients receive compatible kidneys.
- This technique is particularly useful in cases of blood group incompatibility or antibody sensitization
- Experts estimate that KPD can increase transplant rates by up to 15% nationwide
- The National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) is working toward a “One Nation, One Swap Transplant Programme” to scale this model across India
The Raipur Case: Two Patients, Two Donors, One Solution
- The two ESRD patients—aged 39 and 41—had been on dialysis for nearly three years
- Both had willing wives as donors, but blood group mismatches made direct transplantation impossible
- One pair had B+ and O+, the other O+ and B+, leading doctors to coordinate a swap transplant
- The surgeries were conducted simultaneously, with both patients and both donors recovering well under observation
Meet the Team Behind the Milestone
The Swap Transplant was executed by a multidisciplinary team of medical professionals:
- Dr Vinay Rathore (Transplant Physician)
- Dr Amit R Sharma, Dr Deepak Biswal, Dr Satyadeo Sharma (Transplant Surgeons)
- Dr Subrat Singha, Dr Mayank, Dr Jitendra, Dr Sarita Ramchandani (Anaesthesiologists)
- OT technicians, transplant coordinators, and transplant ICU nursing staff also played crucial roles
AIIMS Raipur: A Leader in Transplant Innovation
AIIMS Raipur’s success in this case is part of a broader trajectory in organ transplant services:
- First among newer AIIMS to start Deceased Donor Organ Donation
- First in Chhattisgarh to carry out Deceased Donor Kidney Transplants
- Pioneered Paediatric Deceased Donor Kidney Transplants in the state
- 54 total kidney transplants performed to date
- Graft survival rate: 95%
- Patient survival rate: 97%
In the past two years, six deceased donors have contributed to life-saving procedures under the institute’s transplant program
