BENGALURU: Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Monday directed officials to establish organ retrieval centres in all district hospitals across Karnataka to boost organ donation and transplantation under the Jeevasarthakate programme. Chairing a review meeting at Arogya Soudha, the minister stressed the need to increase efforts to retrieve organs from brain-dead individuals in government hospitals and medical colleges.
Questioning the lack of initiative at the district level, the minister said, “Why are district hospitals showing lesser interest in this? All district hospitals and medical colleges must start organ retrieval centres immediately.”
During the meeting, officials were also asked to explore the model followed by Kasturba Medical College and Research Institute (KMC&RI) for establishing Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) laboratories. The minister instructed that HLA labs be set up under Bangalore Medical Services Trust (BMST) at three locations in the state.
Key decisions were taken at the meeting to strengthen organ donation and transplantation efforts in Karnataka. These included the renewal of registration of the Jeevasarthakate Society, expansion of operational zones from five to seven, formation of a steering committee, and revision of the kidney allocation policy to ensure adequate distribution of organs.