NT NETWORK
PANAJI
It is indicative of a game of one-upmanship. It is not only that the Goans were deprived of the retrieved organs, but the procedure laid down for retrieval of organs was also not followed properly so as to deny any credit to the Goa Medical College and Hospital.
It has now come to light that the Manipal Hospital, where the organs were retrieved from the brain dead patient last Friday, sought permission from the top health department official late on Thursday night citing emergency, which was granted hurriedly without following the due process.
According to senior health officials, as per the laid-down procedure for organs retrievals and transplants, the centre or hospital should be registered with appropriate authority – the State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation, the Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation or the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation.
The officials said that in cases of emergencies the brain dead patients should be transferred on ventilator to the nearest organ transplant/retrieval centre from any hospital
where they are admitted for retrieving the organs followed by transplantation.
They said the Manipal Hospital is neither a registered organ retrieval centre nor a registered organ transplant centre, and as such the brain dead patient who was admitted there and whose organs had been harvested, should have been transferred to the GMC, which is about five kilometres away, for harvesting the organs.
The health officials believed that had the proper protocol been followed then the kidneys could have been easily retrieved and transplanted on Goan patients waiting for cadaveric kidney transplants. They also alleged mischief in the process.
The health officials expressed concerns over the grant of ‘emergency’ permission without following the norms and alleged that it was done to give publicity to the private hospital.
“The top health department official should have followed the protocol and sought advice from the GMC dean before granting the permission,” they said.
The officials further said that nowhere in the country such ‘emergency’ permissions are granted when the registered transplant or retrieval centres are in existence. They said that the organs transplant centre at the GMC was the nearest proximity and as such the patient should have been sent there.