Karnataka Plans to Make Organ Donation Counseling Mandatory in Hospitals

Framing of new rules and guidelines and also making counseling on organ donation for relatives of brain dead people mandatory in all hospitals will help increase the number of organ donors in the state.Minister for health and family welfare U T Khader said every hospital should have its own team to declare when a terminally ill patient goes brain dead, and later encourage relatives for organ donation. New rules and guidelines will help bridge the gap between organ requirement and number of donors.

"Organ transplantation is possible only after a patient is declared brain dead. However, at present we do not have proper guidelines for hospitals to declare a person brain dead. Our idea is to frame rules and guidelines for hospitals to promote organ donation systematically. Every hospital should have a team that looks after promotion of organ donation," he said.

A state-level meeting of experts in organ transplantation and officials of various departments will be convened soon as there is a lack of awareness on organ donation.

"Soon after a patient is declared brain dead, a team of doctors in the hospitals should initiate counseling process for relatives of the dead. Doctors should counsel relatives and make them agree for organ donation voluntarily. Once the system is made mandatory, then we will be able to get a clear picture of the scenario in the state," said Khader.



Source-Medindia