PANJIM: Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Friday announced to soon commission Super Specialty Block at Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) with an entire floor dedicated for organ transplant.
“A Super Specialty Block will be commissioned soon in the State. In this hospital, we will dedicate an entire floor for Organ Transplant and in addition to the kidney transplant facility available in Goa, liver transplant will also be available. We will tap specialties that do not exist in Goa to make them available so that the locals are not forced to take treatment outside Goa,” he said at the inaugural of one-day “Cadaver Retrieval Workshop” at GMCH, on Friday.
The State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTTO), GMCH in collaboration with ROTTO-SOTTO Maharashtra conducted the workshop, which also had presence of GMCH Dean and Medical Superintendent and Nodal officer SOTTO Goa, Prof Dr S M Bandekar.
The doctors’ team also remembered December 8, 2020 when the first deceased donor kidney transplant was conducted and successful harvesting of the liver, heart and lungs from the donor simultaneously resulted in saving five lives.
“It has been constant effort to start and setup liver transplant and liver donation in the State and this workshop will help focus on training and equipping the retrieval teams with proper knowledge and guidance,” Bandekar said.
The workshop was divided into two sessions. The first session was on retrieval of liver, kidney and bone performed on the cadaver placed in the forensic auditorium. This session was live streamed in the main auditorium where the delegates were seated following which an active interaction took place. The second part of the workshop was lecture series which were delivered by the stalwarts in their respective field dealing with retrieval procedures, canulation, and preservation for transportation of organ.
As per the recent statistics of the transplant trends in India, as against 1,60,000 persons awaiting a transplant, only 12,000 organs are available. The scene in India is dominated by States like Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Goa needs to come onto the map and someday lead from the very front, reads a press statement by GMCH.
“Registered on the kidney waiting list are 43 patients. They are looking up to the medical community of Goa to deliver them from this suffering and we must deliver. This workshop was one tiny step towards achieving this goal. At present only kidney transplant is being undertaken in our State. Organs being a national resource are not wasted but offered to the western region ROTTO SOTTO Mumbai who further allocate these organs to the patients on the waiting list as per scientific criteria,” the press release further said.
