India's first nodal organ transplant centre to be located in Delhi

India's first National Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organisation (NOTTO) is being set up at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi to ensure that organs and tissues are scientifically collected from donors and distributed to patients at minimum cost.

The NOTTO, an initiative of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry, will have a computerised network linking it to 24 transplant and organ retrieval centres in Delhi. It will be commissioned within 18 months.

"The Centre is located on the 4th and 5th floors of the Institute of Pathology in the hospital. It has two divisions - the National Human Organ and Tissue Removal and Storage Network and the National Biomaterial Centre," a senior official at Safdarjung Hospital said.

"The National Human Organ and Tissue Removal and Storage Network will be initially established for Delhi and gradually expanded to include other states and regions of the country. Thus, this division of NOTTO is the nodal networking agency for Delhi and it will network for the procurement, allocation and distribution of organs and tissues in Delhi," the official said.

The National Network division of NOTTO will function as an apex centre for nationwide activities of coordination and networking for procuring and distributing organs and tissues and as a registry of organs and tissues donation and transplantation in the country. "The centre will take care of various tissue allografts like bone and bone products, skin grafts, corneas, heart valves and vessels," the official said.

The centre will maintain a waiting list of terminally ill patients from Delhi and the National Capital Region who require transplants, and also network with transplant and retrieval centres and tissue banks. The centre will coordinate for all activities required for procuring organs and tissues, including medico-legal issues.

It will also match recipients with donors. Its work will include allocation, transportation, storage and distribution of organs and tissues within Delhi and NCR. It will also monitor post-transplant patients and conduct followup on living donors for assessment of graft rejection and survival rates.

The Centre will also disseminate awareness and conduct workshops and other activities for promoting organ donation.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has said he will consult state governments at the next meeting of the Central Council of Health on setting up NOTTO-like institutions in state capitals. The proposed Universal Health Assurance Plan will have an organ donation component, he said. Under the Five Year Plan for 2012-2017, Rs 149 crore had been allotted for setting up organ donation infrastructure. The NDA government intends to implement a nationwide programme for setting up NOTTO-like bodies and spreading awareness so there no dearth of organs and tissues for transplants, he said.