Governance
Maharashtra: Top Performer in Organ Donation
- 17 Mar 2020
- 3 min read
Why in News
Recently, Maharashtra surpassed Tamil Nadu and Telangana and became the top performer in the field of organ donation.
- Sensitisation drives and the meticulous efforts of Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation – State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO-SOTTO) along with four Zonal Transplant Coordination Centres (ZTCCs) are important contributing factors behind this achievement.
ROTTO-SOTTO
- The Ministry of Health and Family welfare has established National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) at National level, State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTTO) in States and Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO) at regional level.
- National Network division of NOTTO functions as apex centre for coordinating all activities and networking for procurement and distribution of organs and tissues and maintaining registry of organs and tissues donation and transplantation in the country.
Organ Donation
- Organ donation means giving part of the body (organ) to a person with end stage organ disease who needs a transplant.
- The organs that can be donated for transplantation include kidney, liver, heart, lungs, and small bowel and tissues such as corneas, heart valves, skin and bone.
- Tissue means a group of cells performing a particular function in the human body such as bone, skin, cornea of the eye, heart valve, blood vessels, nerves and tendon etc.
- There are two types of organ donation:
- Living Donor Organ Donation: A person during his life can donate one kidney, a portion of pancreas and a part of the liver.
- Deceased Donor Organ Donation: A person can donate multiple organs and tissues after (brain-stem/cardiac) death.
- Legal Framework:
- Organ Transplantation and Donation is permitted by law, and covered under the "Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994", which has allowed organ donation by live & Brain-stem Dead donors.
- In 2011, amendment of the Act also brought in donation of human tissues, thereby calling the Amended Act “Transplantation of Human Organs & Tissues Act 2011”.
- The Government of India has also started a National Organ and Transplant Program (NOTP), under which patients below the poverty line are supported for the cost of transplant as well as cost of immunosuppression after transplant for one year.
