National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO)

Why in News?

The National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) recently issued a direction stating that women patients and relatives of deceased donors will receive priority in organ allocation.

• Survey findings – Recently a survey denoted that women donate the most and receive the least with, 63.8% of all living organ donors from 2019 to 2023 were women.
• Yet men received the most donated organs, accounting for 69.8% of the recipients.
• National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) – It is the apex government body to oversee organ donations.
• Each hospital of the country which engages in transplant activity, whether in retrieval or transplant, must link with the NOTTO.
• Organ transplantation and donation is covered under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994, which has allowed organ donation by live and brain-stem dead donors.
• In 2011, an amendment to the Act also brought in donation of human tissues.
• As per the Act, buying/selling of organs in any way is punishable and has a significant financial as well as judicial penalty.
• In its recent advisory, the NOTTO has asked State governments to create permanent posts for transplant coordinators at hospitals that perform organ transplantation or retrieval.
• It is advised that state governments have to develop facilities for organ and tissue retrieval in all trauma centres and register them as organ retrieval centres.
• Organ retrieval centres while calling for training emergency responders and ambulance staff to identify potential deceased donors early, particularly among victims of road traffic accidents and stroke patients.
• Global status of organ donation - World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that over 1,30,000 solid organ transplants are performed each year.
  • But this meets only about 10% of the worldwide need.

An organ donor can be anyone whose healthy organs are transplanted to a patient in urgent need. These organs, donated after brain or cardiac death, can be preserved and transplanted to save multiple lives.

• Every year, over 1.8 lakh Indians develop end-stage kidney disease, yet only about 12,000 kidney transplants take place across the country.
• Challenges - Lack of awareness, cultural myths, and hesitation to discuss organ donation within families remain the biggest obstacles.
• Way ahead - Countries with higher awareness and streamlined donor systems have achieved significantly better outcomes, showing what is possible when organ donation becomes a social norm.
• With modern transplantation techniques and effective medicines, recipients can live long and healthy lives.

A single donor can save up to 8 lives through organ donation and enhance many more through tissue donation such as corneas and skin.

Reference

The Hindu | National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO)