Hospitals authorised to carry out organ transplantations must display on their website the list of persons awaiting organs, Information Technology Secretary P.W.C. Davidar said here on Monday.
He was speaking at the inauguration of the five-day certificate course in transplant coordination organised by the National Deceased Donor Transplantation Network (NdTN). The lectures during the course period will be delivered by transplant surgeons, forensic science experts and transplant counsellors with the aim of raising awareness to enable effective implementation of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994.
Topics will include handling medico-legal issues, the concept of brain death, counselling the family, procedure for donation, preservation and use of donor organs, role play in donor counselling, ethics in transplantation, post-operative counselling and protocol and checklist to be followed in the event of availability of a deceased donor.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mr. Davidar offered suggestions to the participants, who included doctors, counsellor and support staff from various hospitals in the State. He said that recognised transplant centre hospitals should have an office with a team to oversee the paperwork; hospitals should organise continuing medical education programmes on the procedures of transplantation, the role of the transplant coordinator and explain how the wait list is managed. Chairperson of NdTN Vatsala Trivedi said undergraduate medical students must be taught about brain death and organ donation from the first year. The course could include physiology, psychiatry and forensic medicine, she said. During their internship the students should be initiated into the role of a coordinator. In order to replicate the Spain model, it is necessary to have a trained counsellor in every hospital, she said.
The course also includes a visit to a public and a private hospital in the city. At the end of the course, the participants will also undergo an examination before they receive their certificates.