Jabalpur medicos get training on organ donation

As a part of one of its first initiatives, the Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO), KEM Hospital, Parel, has begun training doctors and medical social workers in Jabalpur to carry out organ donation. ROTTO, whose agenda is to create awareness and oversee organ donation in the region, will be focusing on smaller centres, and help other states set up centres.

"We have identified doctors and hospitals in several places like Latur and Nashik and will soon start training sessions in these areas. We will also focus on areas in Gujarat in the coming months," said Dr Gauri Rathod, Assistant Director, Directorate of Health Services, Maharashtra, who looks after the Department of Human Organ Transplant Act.

ROTTO officials will interact with doctors and medical social workers, who play an important role in counselling patients. They will also hold formal meetings with the members of the Indian Medical Association in the region.

Currently, Maharashtra has Zonal Transplant Coordination Centres (ZTCC) in Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, and Nagpur that oversee organ donation in these cities. Mumbai, though, receives organs from places like Surat and Indore on a regular basis.

NGOs and civil society initiatives have played a big role in the development. Surat, for instance, has no hospital carrying out organ transplant, yet organ retrieval is a regular occurrence.