Panaji: The Goa government has decided to initiate an inquiry into the controversial first cadaveric organ retrieval in the state earlier this month by a private hospital to find out if the brain-dead patient was medically fit for organ harvesting. The state will also probe whether the hospital had a valid permission and was eligible for organ harvesting, top government sources told Times of India.
“The health ministry has obtained all medical documents from the deceased’s family right from the day he was admitted to the hospital. They will also be seeking the patient’s medical records from the hospital,” sources said.
Health minister Vishwajit Rane had slammed the entire operation as “absolutely illegal” and had said that no hospital in the state other than Goa Medical College (GMC) would be permitted to carry out organ transplants. On April 6, the organs—liver and two kidneys—of B Sadashiv Rao were transported to Mumbai after he was declared brain-dead by Manipal Hospital.
Rao died due to brain haemorrhage following a coronary intervention at the hospital. His family donated his organs after they were informed that he couldn’t lead a healthy life and would be in a vegetable state for the rest of his life.
“His condition was irreversible, which fact was made known to his family. The kin later decided to donate his multiple organs,” Shekhar Salkar, the chief clinical officer of Manipal Hospital, had said on April 6.
He had also said: “Since we don’t have permission either to transplant or harvest organs of a brain-dead person, we approached health secretary Ashok Kumar seeking his consent for retrieval. Within two hours, we got his consent.”
The state has also sought an explanation from health secretary Ashok Kumar for giving “express permission” to the hospital without a meeting of the appropriate authority. “Even the health minister does not have the authority to give the permission, so how could the secretary give it,” asked sources.
Salkar refused to comment on the controversy. “No comments,” he responded via a WhatsApp message.
The GMC lost the chance to do first cadaveric transplant with Mumbai-based Regional Organ Tissue and Transplant Organisation (ROTTO) refusing permission on the grounds that it didn’t have recipients’ list ready. Also, it didn’t have a cross-match laboratory to test blood samples of donor and recipient, a pre-requisite before organ transplant is done.
The GMC has done 16 live kidney transplants so far, while Manipal Hospital is yet to get permission for organ transplant though it applied over a year ago. Last week, Rane declared that he would not grant Manipal Hospital permission for organ transplant.
The government-appointed committee is likely to submit its report in the next few days.