DNA
30 October 2012
State reviews organ donation prog, tells DHS to give zonal panel `61L per year

From now on, the directorate of health services (DHS) will have to give Rs61 lakh to individual Zonal Transplant Co–ordination Committee (ZTCC)offices annually.

This is one of the steps taken by the state to review the organ donation programme in the state and ensure that the ZTCC doesn’t operate like an NGO.

In a public awareness meet organised by the Indian Society of Organ Transplantation on Saturday, DHS announced the steps it has taken to reduce the waiting period for patients who want live transplants.

To speed up the process of live cadaver donations, the health department decided to have more committee meetings that permit donations to take place under the Human Organ Transplantation Act, 1994.

Dr Kempi Patil, assistant director of DHS, said, "We have taken two important steps to reduce the waiting period for live transplants. The state authorisation committee which used to meet twice a month will now meet every week. This will speed up the procedure for patients waiting for liver transplant permission."

For a live transplant, the patient has to seek permission from the hospital authorisation committee and government. The committee should include four people and must have the presence of a DHS officer and the hospital in–charge. At present Dr CH Mane, a senior gynaecologist at Thane Civil Hospital is attending these meetings which has delayed the process. "We will depute more officers from the DHS to attend hospital authorisation committee meetings. The committee gives legal permission for transplantation," said Patil.

Senior nephrologist Dr Umesh Khanna said, "We have been appealing to the government to have at least six to seven people deputed for these meetings. Patients suffer a lot in the long wait for a transplant."