Maharashtra govt has various programmes aimed at increasing organ donations: Minister

Nagpur, Dec 9 (PTI) Maharashtra Health Minister Prakash Abitkar on Tuesday told the legislative council that the government has various programmes in place which are aimed at increasing organ donations.

He also said that various public awareness programmes are taking place every year for increasing organ donation.

Abitkar gave this information in a written reply after MLCs Satej Patil, Abhijeet Wanjari, Bhai Jagtap, Rajesh Rathod, Pragya Satav, Dheeraj Lingade, Jayant Asgaonkar sought to know about the government's steps taken to address the gap in the demand and availability of organs for transplant.

The MLCs asked whether a shortage of organs is witnessed even when the number of brain dead organ donors have increased. They also asked about the steps taken by the government to ease the live donor programme, digital organ registry system and public awareness programme.

Abitkar said the digital organ registry system and Aadhaar-linked waiting list is in existence. Patients are registered online via Aadhaar card in the national registry by hospitals under the National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO).

Accordingly, the patients after receiving unique ID number, are registered in the waiting list of the concerned zonal transplant coordination centre.

The minister also said the Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTTO) and the state divisional transplant coordination centres in Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad and Nagpur perform skits, banners, posters, advertisements in cinema halls, radio jingles and other programmes for creating public awareness for organ donation.

Similarly, the state government also conducts a mega organ donation festival across Maharashtra to increase the percentage of organ donation, he said. PTI CLS NP