Bhopal: Hamidia Hospital Gets Skin Bank; Donated Skin Can Now Be Preserved At -80 Deg/Cel For 6 Months

BHOPAL (Madhya Pradesh): Hamidia Hospital's skin bank can now store and preserve the donated skin for six months at minus 80 degree Celsius (-80deg/cel). Skin bank which has been running at the hospital for the last 6 months was officially inaugurated on Friday.

Earlier, the hospital had to use the donated skin on the very same day as there was no equipment to preserve it but now with the availability of the required equipment, the donated skin can be saved for six months, said officials. State government had given a nod for a skin bank†on June 7, 2024.

So far, only 4 people have donated skin.

NGO Parpeeda Har Welfare Society and Can Fin Home limited have made available the equipment required to preserve the donated skin for a longer time.

Dr Arun Bhatnagar, HoD of burns and Plastic surgery department GMC, said, 'Within six hours of death, skin can be donated and now it can be preserved for six month and be used in treating patients with burn injuries. NGOs have donated equipment worth Rs 20 lakh to preserve the donated skins.'

A skin bank is a facility where the skin of a deceased person is donated. After being collected from a donor, the skin is tested for infections, processed, and frozen until it's needed. When a burn victim requires skin for their injuries, a surgical procedure called skin grafting is conducted.

In Skin grafting, when a piece of healthy skin is transplanted to a different area of the body where the skin is damaged or missing. There are two main types of skin grafts-- autograft (skin is taken from another part of the patient's own body) and allograft (skin is taken from a donor, often sourced from a skin bank).