Gujarat government body to get PM's award for innovative steps in organ donation sector

The Gujarat government's State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTTO) will be awarded by PM Modi in the 'Innovations-State' category

The Gujarat government's State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTTO) will be conferred with the Prime Minister's Award for Innovative Initiatives in the organ donation sector.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will award Gujarat SOTTO in the "Innovations-State" category at a function to be held in New Delhi on April 21, which is also celebrated as Civil Services Day, Health Minister Rushikesh Patel said on Saturday.

"This award is mainly about public sector hospitals taking a lead in Gujarat in organ transplantation, unlike in other states where private sector hospitals dominate," said Principal Secretary of the Health and Family Welfare Department, Shahmeena Husain.

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She said government hospitals in Gujarat are equipped with the latest technology and processes are put in place for accurate matchmaking and better long-term outcome for donors and recipients through an innovative marking system.

Under the G-DOT (Gujarat Deceased Donor Organ and Tissue Transplantation) guidelines framed in 2019, priority is given to women and children for transplants which led to an increase in the number of such recipients, she told PTI.

"Nobody is denied a transplant in our government hospitals. The PM Award is especially also about a significant increase in deceased organ donors in government hospitals," Husain said.

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Government hospitals have taken special efforts to increase the cadaver organ transplant, she said, adding all such hospitals have been made organ retrieval centres by default. "We conducted 300 free organ transplants of small children absolutely free of cost," she said.

According to Husain, Gujarat is the only state in India to have a university for organ transplants, called the Gujarat University of Transplant Sciences.

Established in 2015, the GUTS claims to be the first varsity for transplantation and allied sciences in the entire world.

Efforts of SOTTO, operating since 2019, have succeeded in saving lives by transplanting 1,078 organs received by 354 organ donors to the needy in the last four years, SOTTO convener Dr Pranjal Modi said.

At present, a total of 102 private and government hospitals in the state are registered for the process of organ donation, he said.

The highly expensive transplant surgery is now covered under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya-Ayushman Yojana and made completely free, and efforts were made to minimise transplant cost for the patient, Dr Modi said.