Goa patient loses out on cadaver donation; probe ordered
A brain-dead man's organs harvested at a private hospital in Goa were taken to Mumbai instead of being donated to a patient waiting for the transplant at the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), prompting the health department to order an inquiry into it. The organs were harvested at a hospital in Panaji on Monday and sent to a hospital in neighboring Maharashtra.
Western region's organ transplant body informs concerned authority
Following this, a senior official of the western region's organ transplant body, affiliated to Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has drawn the attention of the authorities concerned on the need to set up the State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (SOTTO) in Goa.
Goa health minister orders an inquiry into the matter
Meanwhile, the state-run GMCH, located close to the private facility where the organs were harvested, claimed that one of its patients was waiting for a kidney transplant. Meanwhile, Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane yesterday ordered an inquiry into the matter and formed a team of GMCH officials to investigate why the local patient was not provided the required organ.
ROTTO director writes to Goa health services over building SOTTO
Dr. Astrid Lobo Gajiwala, the director of the Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (ROTTO), Western Region, Mumbai, yesterday wrote a letter to Goa's health services director Dr. Sanjiv Dalvi over the need to set up the SOTTO. Gajiwala said since the SOTTO has not been set up, the coastal state does not have the approved list of kidney patients waiting for the transplant.
The letter by Dr. Astrid Lobo Gajiwala of ROTTO
The letter, dated April 10, also said that the state does not have an emergency cross-matching facility, which is required for transplants. Gajiwala also suggested the state to maintain a criteria-based transplant waiting list for organs and link it to ROTTO and NOTTO.
IMA Goa had expressed concern over delay SOTTO's set up
Notably, the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) has made it mandatory for the states to have their own panels so that the organs and tissues are collected scientifically from donors and provided to patients. The Goa chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) had earlier expressed serious concern over the delay in setting up SOTTO in the state.
