Panaji, Aug 7 (PTI) A total of 78 patients are currently on the waiting list for kidney transplant from donors in Goa, the state government informed the legislative assembly on Thursday.
In a written reply to a question tabled by Congress MLA Carlos Ferreira, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said kidney is the only solid organ for which transplant facilities exist in the state.
Three hospitals — Goa Medical College in the public sector, and Manipal Hospital and Healthway Hospital (both located near Panaji) in the private sector — are registered to carry out kidney transplants under the SOTTO (State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation) Goa programme, known as Navejivit – New Life, he said.
Among the 78 patients on the waiting list for kidney transplant from deceased donor, 62 are active cases and 16 are currently inactive, the minister informed.
The inactive cases implies those who are not eligible for transplant due to medical reasons.
On the donor front, Rane said Goa has recorded eight kidney donations of deceased persons and 49 from those alive since 2011, when the living donor kidney transplant programme began at the Goa Medical College.
The reply mentions that while SOTTO Goa earlier maintained a state registry of organ pledges, since September 2023, all such data was being fed into the national registry maintained by NOTTO (National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation).
“As of now, 412 pledges have been recorded from Goa on the NOTTO portal, while SOTTO Goa has issued 1,452 donor cards locally,” he said.
Responding to a query on organ donation awareness, Rane said the government has conducted multiple awareness campaigns, outreach events and collaborations with NGOs to promote organ donation.
The delay in organ allocation has never led to wastage or non-utilisation of any organs, he said.
The government, however, admitted that since the inception of the SOTTO waiting list, 26 patients awaiting kidney transplants have died while waiting for a suitable donor.
Rane said the state does not maintain a waiting list for other organs such as liver, heart or lungs, since the transplant infrastructure for those is not available in Goa.
In terms of tissue transplants, Goa has facilities only for cornea transplants. The ASG Eye Hospital and the Healthway Hospital (both near Panaji) are the two centres performing these procedures, the minister said.
Till date, 41 corneal transplants have been conducted — 34 at ASG Hospital and 7 at Healthway Hospital, he added. PTI RPS GK
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.