WE MAKE A LIVING BY WHAT WE GET, BUT WE MAKE A LIFE BY WHAT WE GIVE. Sir Winston Churchill

gift a life….. organ donation

Two lakh Indians require Organ transplants every year, not even 5% are getting organs they need Organ Donors Per Million

Giving means Living…..

IS THE BIGGEST ORGAN IN THE BODY

Beauty may not be skin deep, but life can sometimes be…

Why donate skin? For Burns Patients, S K I N Acts as the most effective dressing Acts as a barrier to infection & the rate of infection is reduced Reduces the pain Increases the survival rate & cost of treatment goes down It is an ideal and cost-effective dressing compared to highly expensive artificial skin substitute like Integra One piece of 10x10cm skin substitute called Integra costs Rs50,000

How and when can one donate skin?  When a person can donation his skin? A person can donate his skin after his death. Skin can be donated within in 6 hours from the time of death  Who can donate skin? Any one can donate skin irrespective of sex & blood group, the minimum age of the donor should be 18 years but there is no upper age limit, even a 100-year-old person can donate his skin and it will be used for treatment  What conditions render skin unfit for donation? Skin of persons suffering from AIDS, Hepatitis B & C, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Skin Cancer, Active Skin Disease and Septicemia are considered unfit for donation. At the time of skin harvesting, blood sample from the body of the deceased is also taken and necessary test for HIV, Viral markers & Hepatitis is carried out at the Skin Bank

Who performs the procedure & how?  Who performs the Skin Harvesting procedure? Skin Harvesting is performed by Skin donation Team consisting of one Doctor, two Nurses and one attendant  How the skin is harvested? A special instrument called DERMATOME harvests skin, it is a battery-operated instrument made exclusively for skin harvesting only  Where and how much time the whole Skin Donation procedure takes? Skin Bank Team will come to the donor’s home, hospital or morgue wherever the donor is kept. We don’t need to shift the donor to the operating room, hospital or ambulance. The whole procedure takes only about 30 – 45 minutes.

Where is the skin removed from?  From which part of the body skin is harvested? Skin is harvested from both the legs, both the thighs and the back  Is entire thickness of the skin is harvested? NO, there are total 8 layers of skin; we harvest only the 1/8th layer i.e. the uppermost layer of the skin is only harvested  Is their any bleeding or disfigurement to the body? No, there is no bleeding from the site where skin if harvested from and there is no disfigurement to the body also. After the procedure we bandage the parts from where skin is harvested in a proper way

Is it a cumbersome process for the kin?  Is the consent for skin donation is taken before the skin harvesting procedure? Yes, a doctor will take consent of the next of kin of the donor and also a witness is required to sign the consent form before we start the procedure. The whole procedure will be explained to you by the Doctor before start of the procedure  Do we have to pay the Skin Donation Team? No, you don’t have to pay anything to the Skin Donation Team, selling & buying organs is illegal  Do we need to produce any documents to the Skin Bank Team when they arrive? Yes, you need to produce the DEATH CERTIFICATE and its photocopy that will be evaluated by the Team Doctor before starting the procedure

What happens after donation?  How will my donation be used? After the skin is harvested, skin will be evaluated, processed, screened at our skin bank, and then supplied to the Burns Surgeon for transplanting on burn patients  How do you preserve the skin & how long it can be preserved? We preserve skin in 85% glycerol solution, it is stored between 4-5 degree Celsius and it can be stored for a period of 5 years  Is there any kind of Donor-Recipient matching required for skin transplant? No, any one’s skin can be transplanted on any one, there is no blood matching, no color matching, no age matching required. Once all the blood reports are negative the donor skin can be transplanted freely

So what do I do to donate skin?  Is it compulsory to pledge or register ourselves with the skin bank if we wish to donate skin? No, it’s not compulsory to pledge or register, even if you have not registered harvesting can be carried out once a call is made in time. If you register, a Skin Donor I.D Card is provided to you along with a Skin donation Magnetic Sticker, “I AM A SKIN DONOR” Pocket card for future references. You can register online on  If we want to call the Skin Bank Team for a skin donation call what should we do? You can call us on the 24 hours SKIN DONATION HELPLINE NUMBER There is a team on stand by 24 hours; a skin donation team will carry out the call irrespective of time

Join us in spreading awareness Awareness in social communities Awareness in corporate offices Volunteer in Operation Restore Awareness in schools and colleges Participate in the Organ Donation Week And, finally take the decision to donate when the ‘Time’ comes

NATIONAL BURNS CENTER - RCBN SKIN BANK  The National Burns Center promoted by the Indian Burns Research Society is an unique and pioneering project to provide comprehensive research and advance training facilities in the latest Burns Care technology specially adapted to India’s present socio- economic profile characterized by low incomes, unsanitary domestic environment and low resistance to infection  It has been established to focus attention and effort on all aspects of Burns in order to develop expertise in this particular area of specialization to create an Institution, which will set standard of excellence in Research, Training, Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation relating to burns National Burns Centre Sector-13, Airoli, Samarth Ramdas Swami Marg, Navi-Mumbai (INDIA). Helpline No.:

Do visit us and see our facilities Skin Donation Helpline: Partnering NBC are Amsterdam