Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan on Monday called for Information Technology-guided transparency in the interface between organ donors and recipients when the National Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organisation (NOTTO) becomes operational.
The Minister said there will be no VIP quotas and no recommendations from officers will be entertained. “Every life is worth protecting and the spirit of the movement is not to be mocked,” he said after a visit on Monday to Safdarjung Hospital, where NOTTO is housed.
Giving details on how the process will be streamlined, the Minister said a general waiting list will be maintained and once a brain-stem dead patient’s consent is available, a state-of-the-art retrieval, matching and transplantation operation will swing into action. A patient who is registered on the waiting list will be given a number which will not change even if he admits himself to another hospital later.
“I am an organ donor myself and am committed to making this a nation-wide movement.. Why can’t we be like Spain where every brain stem death case leads by default to the body being donated for saving lives? I think we should educate our people more on this necessity,” the Minister said.
NOTTO’s web portal will be fully operational in the first phase to cover kidney cases within the next 10 days. The second phase is expected to cover some more body parts and will be operationalised in six months.
The Rs 149-crore National Organ and Tissue Transplantation Programme will have NOTTO at its apex, with regional organ and tissue transplantation organisations at Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Guwahati. Six state level organisations are also planned at the new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences at Patna, Jodhpur, Rishikesh, Raipur, Bhubaneswar and Bhopal
