India: For 1st time Health condition, not influence, to determine organ recipien

[Clark]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/health-condition-not-influence-to-determine-jeevandan-organ-recipients/article6046832.ece

Health condition, not influence, to determine Jeevandan organ recipients
M. SAI GOPAL

New software to assess all parameters of patient, prepare list of priority recipients

In an attempt to provide organs for transplantation solely on the basis of patient’s health condition, and not on the basis of their financial clout or influence, the State-run Jeevandan programme has adopted a software to prepare a list of priority recipients.

The software will capture all parameters of the patient, and based on their health condition, it will make a list of patients those in dire need of organs.

Mandatory registration
Through its website (www.jeevandan.gov.in), officials have made it mandatory for patients to register themselves through hospitals registered under the scheme.

“We have tried our best to imbibe the organ donation scheme prevalent in United States. The organs will be provided only on the basis of patient’s health condition and not any other parameters,” said Jeevandan in-charge G. Swarnalatha.

The authorities had set up a committee responsible for coming up with the parameters for selecting deserving patients. To make organ donation free and fair, a lot of procedures and systems were borrowed from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) programme of the United States, Jeevandan officials pointed out.

The general principles behind preparing an organ transplant waiting list include urgency of the patient’s medical condition, blood, size match with the donor and the amount of time spent on the waiting list.

“There is a point system or individual scores and those with the maximum score will be on top of the list. For instance, the software will assign additional points to children who are under ten years. Those who donated a kidney but now need a kidney for themselves obviously will have a better individual score,” Dr. Swarnalatha said.

According to officials, factors like patient’s income, ability to use a position to influence do not play a role in determining allocation of organs.

“This is the first-of its-kind attempt in the country. It took a lot of time for the programme to take-off but surely there is a lot of improvement,” Dr. Swarnalatha said.