Chandigarh: Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal has urged Union health minister J P Nadda to expand skin banking infrastructure across the country, citing the acute shortage of facilities for treating severe burn victims.In a representation to Nadda, Jindal sought the establishment of a dedicated skin bank in Kurukshetra to cater to patients from the constituency and neighbouring districts. He also called for a national mechanism to facilitate skin donation, storage, and inter-state transfer.Jindal pointed out that India, with a population of around 1.4 billion, has only 16 functional skin banks, with seven of them in Maharashtra, leaving large parts of the country without access to donated skin when critically injured burn patients need it.Emphasising the life-saving potential of skin donation, Jindal said the procedure was relatively simple and could generally be carried out within six hours of death without disfiguring the donor’s body. Donated skin can also be preserved and transported to other regions, making a coordinated national network particularly important.Jindal urged the health ministry to expand skin banks at major govt medical institutions and integrate skin donation protocols with existing organ and tissue donation systems. He also sought dedicated nationwide awareness campaigns to dispel misconceptions and encourage voluntary skin donation.“Skin donation can mean the difference between life and death for a severe burn victim,” Jindal said, stressing that the shortage of awareness and banking facilities was resulting in preventable loss of lives.He expressed hope that the health ministry would take “swift and decisive steps” to address the gap.
