PANJIM: Days after Bombay High Court at Goa directed the Goa and Central government to set up State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTTO) within six months, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, on Sunday, said that Goa will copy the model adopted by Mumbai-based KEM Hospital to put in place SOTTO, enabling to have a registry of people requiring organ transplant.
The minister also announced that Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC) will be having the seventh SOTTO in the country.
Speaking to media persons at the sidelines of the inauguration of the Healthway Hospital at Old Goa, Rane said that government is in touch with a senior official in-charge of SOTTO at KEM Hospital in Mumbai, who is providing all the possible support.
“The Governing body, Executive body and model of SOTTO in GMC would be replica of KEM. There is no question of forming a society like what Tamil Nadu has done. We will go with KEM model which is very simpler,” he said.
Rane said that the financial implication to set up SOTTO would be handled partially by the Central government.
The High Court directions came in response to a petition by NGO Mango Foundation seeking to direct the State and Central governments to notify GMC as SOTTO with criteria-based transparent waiting lists for organs and linking it to the Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO), Western Region and National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO).
Responding to the petition, the Minister said that the State Government had started the process of forming SOTTO “even before High Court directives.”
“Since we don’t want to make any mistakes, we have asked State Health Secretary to speak to a specialist in KEM, who is looking after SOTTO for them. She will guide us to put things in place so that the registry can start immediately,” he commented.
Rane said that Goa wants to have its SOTTO in place at the earliest. “SOTTO is required to maintain records and registry for Goa. We will recognise private hospitals under this programme,” he said.
“We need to have our own registry so that the benefit of harvesting the organ will go to the people of Goa for that SOTTO has to be in place,” he stated.
