Cadaveric organ donation in Karnataka is catching up fast with 151 donations in 2022. With this, Karnataka has facilitated the second highest number of cadaver organ donations in India after Telangana, where 194 donations have happened. Gujarat follows Karnataka with 147 donations.
This is the first time that organ donations in Karnataka have gone beyond 105 since the inception of the erstwhile Zonal Coordination Committee of Karnataka (ZCCK) for organ transplantation in 2007. The State had recorded 105 donations in 2019.
In 2017, ZCCK was registered as a society and named as Jeevasarthakathe, the State’s nodal agency that facilitates cadaveric organ donations. On September 5, 2022, the Union Health Ministry officially recognised Jeevasarthakathe as the State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTTO) and allocated Central funds of ₹84 lakh.
On September 22, organ donations crossed the century mark in the State. The 99th organ donation that happened in Chikkamagaluru district hospital is noteworthy. This hospital, which has been identified as a Non-Transplant Human Organ Retrieval Centre (NTHORC), is the first district hospital to identify a potential organ donor.
According to Karnataka SOTTO authorities, the top contributors to the cadaver organ transplant programme in 2022 are Aster RV hospital (20 donations), Apollo BGS Mysuru (19), Trauma and Emergency Care Centre (TECC) on Victoria hospital campus (12), Aster CMI (12), and BGS Global in Kengeri (12).
State Health Commissioner Randeep D. said reaching out to tier 2 cities was the focus of SOTTO Karnataka this year. “The Hubballi-Dharwad zone is doing really well with eight donations at KLES Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital and Medical Research Centre and six donations in SDM College of Medical Sciences and Hospital in Dharwad. Karnataka is the only State where the government organised a mass organ pledge event, where the Chief Minister and the Health Minister along with Cabinet ministers and the Chief Secretary have pledged organ donation,” he said.
“The contribution of TECC was one of the major contributions of a government hospital towards the cadaver organ donation programme with a total of 12 donors from this hospital in less than six months of being recognised as NTHORC. Besides, celebrity endorsement such as Puneet Rajkumar’s eye donation, public awareness events such as slow car race, and human chains have had an impact,” he said.
Sonal Asthana, member of Liver Advisory Committee in Karnataka SOTTO and Clinical Lead, Hepatobiliary Surgery and Multi-organ Transplant at Aster Group of Hospitals, said a proactive SOTTO team with motivated coordinators are the bedrock of Karnataka’s performance. “They are also well supported by the State administrative mechanism. We also have an excellent public-private coordination and partnership. Technocratic best practice advice given by experts in both public and private sector has helped,” he said.
“To further improve, we must make transplant available to patients in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. It will avoid logistic challenges of organ transport and allow patients to receive life saving care closer to home,” Dr. Asthana added
Cadaver organ donations since 2015
2015 - 60
2016- 70
2017- 68
2018-89
2019-105
2020-35
2021-70
2022-151
