A high level workshop that included international and Indian stakeholders from the field of organ transplantation met in Delhi from February 28 to March 2, 2013, to discuss ways to increase the deceased donation rate and help overcome organ shortage.
The topics covered in the programme ranged from the role of the Government organizations, hospitals and NGOs in the establishment of the deceased donor programme in a hospital and the medico-legal aspects related to the Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994 (THOA 1994) and its amendments. Specific stress was laid on practical training by conducting counselling, public education programmes, and documentation related to organ donation and transplantation.
Dr. Jagdish Prasad, Director General, DGHS inaugurated the workshop and gave the key note address. He congratulated the stakeholders and assured them of his full support in giving a boost to the deceased donation programme. He emphasized the need for public awareness and training the intensive care physicians across the country.
Dr. Francis Delmonico, president-elect, The Transplantation Society, who presided over the function, said that transplant coordinators in India could become pioneers in creating an Asian Transplant Coordinators’ Organisation just like the one in Europe.
Dr Marti Manyalich, president, Donation and Transplantation Institute, Barcelona, emphasised the need for propagation of the Deceased Donation Pathway and Brain Death audits in all ICUs of hospitals registered as transplant or retrieval centres.
The three day workshop after deliberating on various aspects of deceased donation came out with a consensus document of recommendations for the expansion of deceased donation. It was unanimously resolved that the solution to organ shortage and achievement of self-sufficiency in organ donation for all states in India is possible only through systematic strengthening of the deceased donor programme.
