Govt will encourage organ donations

Karnataka will soon amend the Transplant Act to encourage organ donation, medical education minister Ramachandra Gowda said on Friday. Speaking after inaugurating the Liver, Pancreatic Disorders and Multi-Organ Transplantation Unit and a liver ICU at BGS Global Hospitals, he said: "We want to be on par with Tamil Nadu, which is one of the leading states in transplantation. The amendments will facilitate and encourage voluntary donation and cadaver transplantation." Global Hospitals Group MD and chairman Dr K Ravindranath said: "This is our third transplant centre after Chennai and Hyderabad. Surgeon Dr Mohammed Rela said: "Liver transplantation is coming up in a major way. Last year, 58 liver transplantations were conducted, almost half the total transplantations in India." `Lack of awareness is main problem' Dr Mohamed Rela, hepatobilary, pancreatic and liver transplant surgeon, has done over 1,300 liver transplants, including Guiness record -- a successful one on a five-day-old baby. Excerpts from an interview: What is main hurdle in organ transplantation? In India, there are no organs for transplantation because there are very few cadaver donors. In the UK, 12 out of every 1 million persons donate. They perform 650-700 liver transplantations a year. In India, less than 0.1% of the population participates in cadaver donation.

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