Organ, tissue transplant org to be set up at GMC

PANAJI: Goa will be the seventh state in the country to have a state organ and tissue transplant organisation (SOTTO) and formalities to constitute it are in full swing. The SOTTO is being set-up at the Goa Medical College (GMC) and hospital.

Health minister Vishwajit Rane said he will ensure that any organs harvested in the state are given to those registered with the SOTTO registry and in accordance with set procedures. “The SOTTO will be set up under the guidance of Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO) Mumbai,” Rane told TOI.

He said only SOTTO will have an absolute say in distribution of organs harvested locally and ensure that local persons in the wait list are beneficiaries of the organ harvested here.

ROTTO officials, he said, will visit Goa shortly. The GMC, he said, will continue its organ transplant programmes while more facilities will be added once the SOTTO becomes functional.

In organ transplants, the nephrology and urology departments have been conducting live kidney transplants for over five years. One of the requirements of having cadaveric transplants is that state should have its laboratory for tissue matching.

In the absence of a facility here, the GMC sends its samples to a Mumbai laboratory.
Health minister Vishwajit Rane said Manipal hospital whose application for organ transplant was pending with the government for over a year, is also being approved.
An official said GMC has already earmarked a space for setting up SOTTO in GMC. The government has no option but to expedite setting up the facility here, as voluntary organisation filed writ petition is pending before high court of Bombay at Goa. The official said having a SOTTO in GMC also did not take pace till health minister started pursuing it in the right earnest.
Besides, kidney transplant GMC plants to explore other transplants but will till its super speciality block is ready and commissioned. The project which is being executed through Hospital Services Consultancy Corporation (HSCC) is slated to be completed within a year-and-a-half. “Liver transplant is certainly on cards but will wait till the super speciality block is completed,” he added.

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