NATIONAL ORGAN AND TISSUE TRANSPLANT ORGANIZATION (NOTTO) – GOVERNANCE
News:
Now, no age bar to
register for cadaver organ transplants
What's
in the news?
●
The Union Health Ministry does away with a
clause in the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation guidelines that
said a patient should be less than 65 at the time of registration.
Organ
Transplantation in India:
●
India conducts the third highest number of transplants in the world.
●
Kidney
transplantation is the most common type of organ
transplantation in India, followed by liver transplantation. Heart, lung, and
pancreas transplantations are relatively rare.
●
Organs from deceased donors accounted for
nearly 17.8% of all transplants in 2022.
●
The demand for organs in India far exceeds
the supply. There is a severe shortage of organs, with an estimated 500,000
people in need of organ transplantation every year.
New
guidelines under 'One Nation, One Policy':
●
The upper
age limit has been removed as people are now living longer.
○
Earlier, according to the NOTTO (National
Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization) guidelines, an end-stage organ
failure patient above 65 years of age was prohibited from registering to
receive the organ.
●
The ministry has removed the domicile requirement to register as an organ recipient
in a particular state under a ‘One Nation, One Policy’ move.
○
Now a needy patient can register to
receive an organ in any state of his or her choice and will also be able to get
the surgery done there.
○
The patient will be allotted a unique ID by NOTTO on registering which
will get carried forward even if the patient changes multiple hospitals in
different States.
●
There will be no registration fee that states used to charge for this purpose,
the Centre has asked states that used to charge for such registration to not do
so.
○
Among the states that sought money for
registration were Gujarat, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Kerala.
○
Certain states asked for anything between
Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 to register a patient on the organ recipient waitlist.
Go
back to basics:
National
Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO):
●
It is a National level organization set up
under the Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
●
It functions as the apex center for coordinating all activities and networking for the
procurement and distribution of organs and tissues and maintaining the registry
of organs and tissue donation and transplantation in the country.
Steps
taken by the Government for safe Organ Transplantation:
1.
The Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act (THOTA):
●
The THOTA was passed in 1994 and amended
in 2011 to regulate the removal, storage, and transplantation of human organs
and tissues for therapeutic purposes.
2.
Establishment of the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO):
●
The NOTTO was established in 2014 as a
national-level organization to coordinate organ donation and transplantation
activities across the country. The organization is responsible for maintaining
a national registry of organ donors and recipients, promoting organ donation,
and ensuring the safe and ethical conduct of organ transplantation activities.
3.
Accreditation of transplant centers:
●
The government has established a system
for accrediting transplant centers in the country. Accreditation is based on
various criteria, such as the qualifications and experience of the medical
personnel, the infrastructure and facilities available at the center, and the
quality and safety of the transplantation procedures.
4.
Public awareness campaigns:
●
These campaigns aim to educate the public
about the importance of organ donation and encourage them to register as organ
donors.
5.
Use of technology:
●
The government is using technology to
streamline the organ transplantation process and make it more transparent and
efficient.