Panaji: A total of 78 patients are currently on the waiting list for deceased donor kidney transplants in Goa, with only 62 active cases, the state government informed the Assembly on Wednesday.
In a written reply to a starred question tabled by Congress MLA Carlos Ferreira, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Thursday said kidney is the only solid organ for which transplant facilities exist in the state.
He said that three hospitals — Goa Medical College in the public sector, and Manipal Hospital and Healthway Hospital (both located near Panaji) in the private sector — are registered to carry out kidney transplants under the SOTTO (State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation) Goa programme, known as Navejivit – New Life.
Among the 78 patients on the waiting list for a deceased donor kidney transplant, 62 are active and 16 are currently inactive, the minister informed, the minister added.
The inactive patients are those who are not eligible for kidney transplant due to medical reasons.
Rane told the House that the state does not maintain a waiting list for other organs such as liver, heart or lungs, since transplant infrastructure for those is not available in Goa.
In terms of tissue transplants, Goa has facilities only for cornea transplants. ASG Eye Hospital and Healthway Hospital (both near Panaji) are the two centres performing these procedures, the minister said.
Till date, 41 corneal transplants have been conducted — 34 at ASG and 7 at Healthway Hospital, he added.
On the donor front, Rane said Goa has recorded 8 deceased kidney donations and 49 living kidney donations since 2011, when the living donor kidney transplant programme began at Goa Medical College.
The reply mentions that while SOTTO Goa earlier maintained a state registry of organ pledges, since September 2023, all such data is being fed into the national registry maintained by NOTTO (National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation).
“As of now, 412 pledges have been recorded from Goa on the NOTTO portal, while SOTTO Goa has issued 1,452 donor cards locally,” he said.
Responding to a query on organ donation awareness, Rane said the government has conducted multiple awareness campaigns, outreach events, and collaborations with NGOs to promote organ donation.
The delay in organ allocation, he clarified, has never led to wastage or non-utilisation of any organs, he said.
However, the government admitted that since the inception of the SOTTO waiting list, 26 patients awaiting kidney transplants have died while waiting for a suitable donor.
