Take steps to encourage organ, tissue donation from road accident victims, Centre asks states

New Delhi: Training first responders, designating special teams in hospitals, upgrading trauma centres and registering them as organ retrieval centres are some of the steps suggested by the Centre to states to encourage organ donation, which is less than one deceased donor per million population in the country.

The Central government has asked all states to organise state and district-level training programmes for first responders in emergencies, such as police personnel, ambulance drivers and para-medical staff, to facilitate organ and tissue donation from road accident victims.

In a letter, Dr Anil Kumar, Director of the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO), which is under the Union Health ministry, said that India faces a critical shortage of organs for transplantation, with thousands of patients on the waiting list for different organs.

A large number of deaths occur due to road traffic accidents (RTAs), especially involving young and otherwise healthy individuals. According to the report titled “Road Accidents in India 2023” of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, around 1.7 lakh people were killed in road accidents in the year 2023 who could have been potential organ donors, the letter said.

“Many of these potential organ donors are lost due to lack timely identification and referral,” it said.

While all efforts will be made to save the lives of accident victims, organ donation may be considered in identified brain stem death cases as per the procedures laid down in the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994 and its rules.

“The first responders in emergencies, namely police personnel, ambulance drivers, emergency medical technicians (EMT), para-medical staff, etc, can play a vital role in identification of potential donors and timely referral and harvesting of organs from those who give consent for donation,” Kumar said in the letter.

Kumar said that mechanisms should be in place for the flow of information from the first responders to the transplant coordinators available in the nearest trauma centres or hospitals or medical colleges.

The letter suggested organising training programmes by ROTTOs/SOTTOs, in coordination with the state government authorities for the first responders, incorporating basic knowledge about organ donation, identification and maintenance of potential donors, counselling and consent of the family members etc.

The timely and appropriate referral to designated trauma or organ retrieval centres can significantly enhance the rate of deceased organ donation in the country, it said.

According to the suggested action plan for implementation by the states and UTs, state-level and district-level training programmes should be organised for police personnel, ambulance drivers and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) under government and private ambulance services. It can be a cascading mode of training through training of trainers.

There should be integration of basic modules on organ donation awareness, brain stem death identification and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for trauma referrals into the training curriculum.

Necessary directions should be issued to State Ambulance Services (including 108, 102, and private operators) to ensure participation of all first responders for attending the training sessions. AGENCIES