For the third time in a row, the State had bagged the first place in organ transplantation in the country.
The award was presented by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation on Monday in New Delhi.
The State has so far received 5,933 organs from 1,056 donors since the launch of the transplant programme. In the last several years, the government has been actively expanding the reach of transplantation to tier 2 cities, Health Minister C. Vijaya Baskar said after receiving the award.
The transplant programme, which remained under the State Health Department received a boost when a separate body was set up and it was given autonomy, says J. Amalorpavanathan, former member-secretary of Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu.
Private hospitals continue to be the largest contributors of cadavers to the programme, he says. The support from private hospitals had helped to boost the programme in government institutions.
“The spin off is Stanley Hospital’s liver transplant programme got a major boost. When hospitals take up transplant surgeries, the treatment protocol also improves. The number of surgeries performed in government hospitals has also gone up. Transplant programme has helped to develop the infectious diseases and immunology departments,” Dr. Amalorpavanathan says.
It had also helped to promote preventive hepatology, renal and cardiac treatment.
Way ahead
With the State’s programme becoming a lighthouse for the country, it is easier to extend the programme, feels P.W.C. Davidar, who has been an integral part of the transplant programme ever since his stint as Health Secretary. “It has gone well. People have been donating. Never put anybody else above them as it is an ecosystem built around them,” he says, adding that including good hospitals in tier 2 cities in the programme is the way forward, he says.
Hospitals with good intensive care units not in the transplant programme could assist in organ donation, he says. “Even if every hospital with an ICU could do one brain death certification a year, it would go a long way in meeting the need,” Mr. Davidar says.
