Times of India
22 October 2010
Hyderabad, India

Chief minister K Rosaiah said here on Thursday that the rampant trade in human organs for transplantation needs to be curbed. Speaking at the inaugural of the annual two–day conference of the Indian Society of Organ Transplantation, he said that four lakh patients suffer from failure of vital organs annually but a meagre two per cent of the requirement for organs was being met.

Chief minister, who pledged his organs along with the 500 delegates participating in the conference from across the country and few from overseas, said that the best way for improving the availability of organs and to stop organ trafficking is to establish a robust cadaver donor transplantation programme. He assured that the government will leave no stone unturned in popularising the ‘Jeevandan’ scheme to address issues pertaining to cadaver transplantation.

Experts at this conference said that though cadaver transplantation was introduced in 1994, the number of cadaver transplants in AP have not improved, primarily because of lack of a centralised coordinating agency and absence of streamlined procedures for facilitating and regulating cadaver transplantation. They said that the ‘Jeevandan’ scheme as a coordinating agency will make a difference in pushing AP to the top slot in the country for shortest waiting period for organs.

However, Dr A Gopal Kishan, president, Indian Society of Organ Transplantation (ISOT) said that there are some lacunae in the scheme which is yet to take shape even after two months of launch.

"Shortage of organs is giving rise to scams. Government should take up the scheme actively and must ban unrelated transplants. Brain death certification must be given by experienced doctors and not specifically by neuro–surgeon or neurophysician as it is happening currently. Due to lack of specialists, most hospitals are unable to declare brain dead cases," said Dr Gopal.

Further, Dr S Sahariah, organising secretary, ISOT, said that currently over 95 per cent of the organ transplantation are being done with living donors and less than 5 per cent are cadaver transplants.

On Friday, a public awareness programme has been organised involving celebrities, politicians and members from the police to create awareness about cadaver transplantation.