Mumbai: The organ donation programme in the State is all set to get a boost as the Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO) in KEM Hospital at Parel will soon get a director and a team of coordinators.
Officials from the Directorate of Health Services have already begun interviewing candidates who can fit the bill. Once fully functional, this western region headquarters of the organisation will help streamline cadaver organ donations in Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Daman and Diu.
“The director and other staff will be appointed soon,” said Avinash Supe, dean of KEM Hospital. Dr. Supe said the organisation will carry out dedicated Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities, which take place in a scattered manner at present. “There will be a dedicated cell to train medical social workers and coordinators. Good social workers and coordinators can turn around the organ donation programme completely,” he said.
Four coordinators have already been hired, and will be posted at JJ, Sion and Nair Hospitals in Mumbai and a State-run hospital in Nagpur.
ROTTO will have a database of voluntary organ donors, and will streamline the donation process in case organs are coming from other States. The centre will also review the waiting list of patients, facilitate organ retrieval, and coordinate with centres in other States, and thus avoid wastage of organs.
Last year, the State reported its highest number of cadaver organ donations (132). This year, the number has already reached 69. Dr. Supe says the ideal situation would be to make it compulsory to donate organs by law, like in many countries. “But our society is different, and it is not that easy for us,” he said.
Waiting list gets longer
Maharashtra is, however, yet to match Tamil Nadu, which reports the most cadaver organ donations in the country. In 2016, Tamil Nadu reported 185 such cases.
The waiting list of patients in Maharashtra, meanwhile, continues to get longer. According to the Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee, 3,238 kidney, 240 liver, 34 heart and 10 lung patients are waiting for organs.
According to nephrologist Umesh Khanna, the State is improving on this front. “Mumbai and Pune are now neck and neck in the number of cadaver organ donations. Other cities are also taking a cue,” said Dr. Khanna, who is the chairman of the Mumbai Kidney Foundation and secretary of the Mumbai Nephrology Group.
According to Dr. Khanna, any hospital that has a good Intensive Care Unit that can keep a brain-dead patient should come forward to register as an organ retrieval centre. “Also, the government should simplify the registration process so that hospitals are encouraged to do so. At present, many back out to avoid the cumbersome process involved in becoming an organ retrieval centre,” he said.
