The National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) is mulling procuring special mortuary cabinets in which bodies could be preserved at minus 20 degree Celsius, in order to provide training to doctors on organ retrieval.
According to NOTTO officials, surgeons at intensive care units (ICUs) at trauma centres need to be trained and made aware about the various aspects of organ donation since these places are potential centres for organ retrieval.
There is a huge potential for deceased organ donors in India from road traffic accidents alone, the official said.
"While doctors need to be adequately trained to diagnose brain death on time, on the other hand, the families also need to be counselled on time so that they agree to donate organs.
"Lack of training for ICU personnel to maintain brain dead person is a constraint. From the time a patient is diagnosed brain dead and the family is counselled and then the process of retrieving organs, all of these has to be done on a tight schedule," said the official.
In the present scenario, the number of patients who need organ transplants exceeds the number of organs donated and there is a need to promote organ donation.
As part of the programme, the objective is to collect atleast five to eight dead bodies and then train a group of surgeons batchwise on organ retrieval.
"They also need to be made aware about green corridors and trained about the time limit within which an organ should be transplanted after being retrieved," the official said.
"The training on organ retrieval will take place at our centre located at Safdarjung hospital," the official added.
The cost of cabinets which can contain two bodies is between Rs 6-7 lakh in domestic market.
NOTTO which is the apex centre for the coordination of procurement and allocation of organs is yet to send a formal proposal to the Union Health Ministry in this regard.
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