COIMBATORE: Ganga Hospital will felicitate NGOs and Social Welfare Groups – that promote skin donation – on July 15 that is being observed as Plastic Surgery Day.

According to Chairman of Plastic, Hand, Reconstructive, Microsurgery and Burns Department of the Hospital Dr. S. Raja Sabapathy, India accounts for the largest number of burn related deaths in the world. “To save severely burn injury patients, particularly when more than 30 per cent of the body surface area is burnt, a service of a skin bank is needed,” he said.

“Anyone above the age of 18 years can donate their skin. Ganga Hospitals started a skin bank two years back. So far 150 people have donated skin. A social welfare organisation, SPEDA , has so far felicitated 50 donations,” he said.

Explaining about skin harvest, Dr. Sabapathy said skin should be harvested within six hours of death. “It is like eye donation. Every eye donor can be a skin donor. Only less than 5 per cent of eye donors donate skin. This number has to increase so that we can save the several burn injury patients.

Persons who want to donate the skin of their relative can contact Ganga Hospital (phone: 0422-2485000) within six hours of the death.