National Workshop of Transplant Coordinators Provides Guidelines to Promote Deceased Donation in India

A high level workshop that included International and Indian stakeholders from the field of organ transplantation met in Delhi over 3 days to discuss ways to increase the deceased donation rate in the country and help overcome organ shortage. Dr.Sunil Shroff, Managing Trustee of MOHAN Foundation and Dr.Vivekanand Jha, Council Member of The Transplantation Society were instrumental in making this high level meeting happen in India. A living person can only donate one of the two kidneys or a part of the liver; however a person who is brain dead can donate almost nine common organs and tissues. The current organ donation rate from deceased donors range from 12 to 40 per million population in most developed countries whereas in India it is below one at 0.16 per million population.  However the pool of brain death that can become possible organ donors is large in India and this is due to the high rate of mortality due to road traffic accidents. The number of brain deaths estimated from this pool alone is over 95,000.

The topics covered in the programme ranged from the role of the Government organizations, hospitals and NGO’s in establishment of the deceased donor programme in a hospital and the medico-legal aspects related to the Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994 (THOA 1994) and its amendments. Specific stress was laid on practical training by conducting role plays on grief counseling, public education programmes, and documentation related to organ donation and transplantation. 

The participating stakeholders at the workshop included The President from the International Transplantation Society, Transplantation Representative from WHO, Representative from Ministry of Health in India, Secretary of  Indian Society of Nephrology and Indian Society of Transplantation, representatives of NGO called  MOHAN Foundation, Senior Consultants in the field of Transplantation from various states and Transplant Co-ordinators from across the country. Participants equally represented both public and private hospitals.   The experienced faculty included eminent doctors from established transplant hospitals of the country. The sharing of their experiences during the interactive sessions provided valuable insights to the delegates and provided reasons why the deceased donation programme was slow to take off in India.

Dr. Jagdish Prasad, Director General, DGHS inaugurated the workshop and gave the key note address. He congratulated the stakeholders and assured them of his full support in giving a boost to the deceased donation programme in the country. He particularly pointed out of the exemplary work being done by MOHAN Foundation in the field.  He emphasized the need for public awareness and training the intensive care physicians across the country.

Dr. Francis Delmonico, President Elect,  The Transplantation Society, who presided over the function said that transplant coordinators in India could become pioneers in creating an Asian Transplant Coordinators’ Organisation just like the one in Europe.

Dr Marti Manyalich President of Donation and Transplantation Institute, Barcelona. emphasized the need for propagation of the Deceased Donation Pathway and Brain Death audits in all ICU’s of hospitals registered as transplant or retrieval centers.

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The workshop also provided opportunity and a forum for transplant coordinators to meet, interact, share challenges and success stories and get a chance to update their knowledge on deceased organ donation.

The three day workshop after deliberating on various aspects of deceased donation came out with consensus document of recommendations for the expansion of deceased donation. It was unanimously resolved that the solution to organ shortage and achievement of self-sufficiency in organ donation for all states in India is possible only through systematic strengthening of the deceased donor program. 

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Source-Medindia