Odisha government to explore proposals from hospitals for conducting organ transplant

BHUBANESWAR: The State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTTO) will explore the proposals from different hospitals for conducting the organ transplant and coordinate with the state nodal officer of SOTTO for the issue of registration under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act.
Till date 10 hospitals have received permission for organ transplant and tissue banks. In a recently held meeting, it was decided that more non-transplant organ retrieval centres will be given permission to facilitate the deceased organ transplant in the state. SOTTO will take steps for exploring the feasibility, said the official sources.
Officials of SOTTO will contact all the health facilities, who have been authorised for organ transplantation, to get the information on brain stem death cases at the right time and take up the counselling of the family members of the deceased. It will examine different constraints faced during the post-mortem and maintenance of the green corridor during the organ transport and transplant, said an official of the health department.
During a review meeting of SOTTO, the officials including health secretary advised the organisation to initiate training of staff involved in and increase the information, education and communication (IEC) activities. The organisation will enhance the activities in a planned manner to increase the deceased organ transplant in the state, said the officials.
The officials in the meeting observed that the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) package does not include all organ transplants. Concerned authorities will examine the costs that may be involved in different transplants, and take necessary steps for inclusion of the new packages along with the suggested rate, said the sources.
The dean and principal and medical superintendent of SCB medical college and hospital (MCH) at Cuttack will take steps to examine the status of the kidney, liver and heart transplant and do the needful for early functionalization. Steps shall be taken for set up of facility for cross match and other investigations required during deceased transplant, said the official sources.
The SOTTO was established in 2019 at SCB MCH Cuttack after getting approval from the Centre on April 29, 2019. The main functions of SOTTO are to promote, regulate and coordinate deceased organ transplant, conduct IEC activities for increasing awareness on the programme, networking, database management and coordinate with national organ and tissue transplant organisation (NOTTO). The officials in the review meeting noted that the achievements of SOTTO since August 26, 2019 has not been up to expectation.