Govt hospitals lag in organ transplants, review shows, sparking action

The Union government is preparing to help public hospitals perform more organ transplants after a review showed only a fourth of the 18,000 transplants in 2023 were done by them.

- Priyanka Sharma

The health ministry has completed a 2023 assessment of all government institutions with a license for organ transplants and it is now in the process of reconciling last year's data.

A lack of medical expertise and dedicated ICU beds for transplant patients have been identified as the main stumbling blocks.

Around 90 government hospitals have a license to conduct organ transplants—a procedure that is expensive in private hospitals but within the reach of the poor in government ones.

Organ donation guidelines are given in the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994 and the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules, 2014. These are monitored and regulated by the National Organ Tissue and Transplant Organization (Notto).