Mumbai: 3 months deadline set on Hospitals for death, organ donation reports

Mumbai: As part of the initiative to increase organ donation in government hospitals in the city, all top public hospitals have been asked to submit their death and organ donation reports to the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) within three months.

Many public hospitals have cadavers ready for transplant but have not yet offered any organ donation. It is a matter of concern as many public hospitals receive thousands of patients throughout the year but yet many private hospitals facilitate more organ donations each year.

As per the HT source, only 2 organ donations have taken place in 2 hospitals KEM Hospital and JJ Hospital in the last 3 years.

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"Patients frequently become brain dead and have no hope of life. If someone from the hospital can approach the patient's family at that time and persuade them that organ donation is a good cause, many lives can be saved." said a DMER official.

The five hospitals where organ transplant programmes are available but yet not offering any include JJ Hospital and BYL Nair Hospital-Mumbai Central, LTMG Sion Hospital, Dr RN Cooper Hospital and KEM Hospital.

"Why are public hospitals not offering any organ donation? Organ transplant programmes are available at our facilities. These hospitals, however, do not offer organ donation or organ retrieval. It's a source of concern, which is why I've ordered them to provide a report within the next three months, detailing how many patients were certified brain dead and how many organs were recoverable." Dr Deelip Mhaisekar, director of DMER said.

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Dr Mhaisekar said that they are also trying to promote skin and eye donations in government hospitals. They will arrange a meeting as soon as they receive the report which will help them to boost the donation in the city.

"In the city, private hospitals have been leading the organ transplant programme. According to a top transplant surgeon from a south Mumbai hospital, "public hospitals encounter more accident cases, hence the odds of brain dead patients are higher."