Kerala: Medical Colleges to tie up for Organ Harvesting, Transplants

Kochi: A public-private participation in organ harvesting from brain dead patients and conduction of organ transplantation surgeries has been mooted at a meeting between the Directorate of Medical Education and Principals of Government Medical Colleges recently. A decision was taken that if there are no facilities and specialists for harvesting organs and conducting transplantation surgeries for a particular organ in a government medical college, experts from private hospitals will be called in to do the job.

It is a known fact that there was a shortage in the state for cadaver donations, leading to risks to the lives of many a patient waiting for organ transplants.

Government medical institutions plan to focus on the task of organ harvesting from brain dead patients to facilitate organ transplant surgeries in the state.

"There will be a committee in each medical college to monitor and review cadaver donations. As of now, private sector enjoys upper hand. Transplantation surgeries are done only at a couple of government medical colleges. In other medical colleges, experts from private hospitals will conduct harvesting, ” said a health official.

"They will also train doctors in government medical colleges," a top official with the health department added.

"Later on, transplantations can be done in all the medical colleges in the state," the health official to the TOI on an optimistic note.