Kolkata to boost deceased organ donation through new retrieval centers and collaboration
Times of India | 26 April 2025
1234 Kolkata: In a move to boost deceased organ donation, the state health department plans to set up NTORC (non-transplant organ retrieval centre) in all the govt-run 24 medical colleges. The health department is also considering a periodical audit on the number of brain death declarations by hospitals that have ICU beds and trauma care units.
NTORC is a hospital authorised to retrieve organs from deceased donors for transplant surgeries in other hospitals that have the licence. ROTTO (east) officials said that despite making good progress in deceased organ donations, the number has not risen since 2018.
You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata
"We plan to set up NTORC in all 24 govt medical colleges to begin with so that the concept of brain death seeps down to all hospitals and they start contributing to deceased donations," said Prof Aniruddha Neogi, State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (SOTTO) Nodal Officer, Swasthya Bhawan, on Friday during the launch of Manipal Hospitals' ‘Deceased Organ and Tissue Donation – East Region'.
At present, IPGMER (SSKM) is the only govt hospital in Bengal that declares brain death, from where the highest number of organ donations originates among all hospitals, in addition to conducting the largest number of deceased donor transplants in Bengal.
"After the good pickup by 2018, the deceased donation graph has become stagnant. We need better collaborations to increase organ donation and utilisation to reduce the burden on living donors. This initiative by the Manipal group brings a ray of hope to ROTTO," said Professor Manimay Banerjee, Director ROTTO (east) and Director IPGMER.
The Manipal Organ Sharing & Transplant (MOST), an initiative under the hospital chain, was launched at Medica Superspecialty Hospital, a unit of Manipal Hospitals Network. The four Kolkata units of the hospital chain will now be part of this initiative.
"We are sharing the SOP with the four units in Kolkata as the mission is to promote best practices in this field in 37 Manipal Hospitals," said Avnish Seth, MOST Country Head. The meet was attended by doctors from various hospitals in the city.
Nephrologist Arpita Ray Chaudhury, President of the Indian Society of Organ Transplantation, said, "The launch of the Eastern chapter of MOST marks a critical leap toward bridging the glaring gap between organ demand and availability in this region." The hospital chain's east region officials, Shugota Chakrabarti and Dr Ayanabh Debgupta, said concerted efforts to bolster organ donation will come from the hospital's units.
Ends
Gfix:
- All 24 state-run medical colleges to start NTORCs
- Govt plans to start periodical auditing on brain death declaration by hospitals
- All four units of Manipal in Kolkata to come under the hospital's countrywide network on organ sharing and transplant network MSID:: 120623022 413 |