Steps were taken to promote Organ Donation in the Country

Provision for providing financial support to the States for setting up of Bio- Material Center under the National Organ Transplant Programme has been established

The government of India has the National Organ Transplant Programme (NOTP) to promote organ donation and transplantation across the country. The provisions under the programme include financial support for:

• Setting up of State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organizations (SOTTOs) in each State/UT.
• Setting up of National/ Regional/State Bio-material centres;
• Establishing new Organ Transplant/retrieval facilities and strengthening of existing Organ Transplant/retrieval facilities.
• Provision of Transplant Coordinators to medical colleges and trauma centres.
• Maintenance of deceased donor
• Dignified funeral of deceased donor
• Post-transplant immune-suppressant drugs to BPL patients.

Under this programme, an apex level National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) in New Delhi, five Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organizations (ROTTOs) and sixteen State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organizations (SOTTOs) have been established.

Organs like the Heart, Kidney, Liver etc. need to be transplanted immediately after retrieval. The National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) has a facility of National Level Tissue Bank (Biomaterial Centre) for storing tissues. Under the National Organ Transplant Programme (NOTP), a provision has been made for providing financial support to the States for setting up of Bio-material centre. A Regional Bio-material centre has been established at Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO), Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Further, funds have been released to the states of Bihar and Maharashtra for the establishment of a Bio-material Centre under NOTP.

The NOTTO, ROTTOs and SOTTOs disseminate relevant information about organ donation to the public. A website www.notto.gov.in and a 24×7 call centre with a toll-free helpline number (1800114770) have been made operational. A number of activities, for generating awareness and for imparting training to all those associated with transplants including doctors and transplant coordinators, such as the celebration of Indian Organ Donation Day, seminars, workshops, debates, sports events, walkathons, participation in marathons, nukkad Natak, etc. are organized at different places in the Country.

Awareness activities through advertisement in print media, audio-visual messages and expert talks on Doordarshan and other television channels are carried out in this regard. Jan Andolan for creating Organ donation awareness and pledging in the form of social media campaign has been carried out as part of Amrit Mahotsav to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the independence of the country.

As per data made available by States/UTs to National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO), the number of patients for a kidney transplant in the country along with the number of kidneys available for such transplants are as under:

The Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar stated this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.