Skin donations in Bengaluru pick up but demand still outstrips supply

Although donations at the State’s only skin bank in the government-run Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru have increased over the years, the demand still outstrips supply. We need to have skin harvesting teams with trained personnel in the districts with all logistics to collect skin from brain dead cases reported there, similar to a system being followed in other organ donations,” Yogishwarappa C.N., Professor and Head of the Department of Plastic Surgery and Burns in Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, told The Hindu on Thursday. Burns cases With the use of donated skin, the chances of survival in patients with first and second degree burns increases by 30% to 50%, depending on their overall condition. “We keep a reserve of 4,000 sq.cm of donated skin for patients in the Mahabodhi burns ward in Victoria Hospital.