more-in In a bid to encourage organ donations in the State, Health Minister K.K. Shylaja said the government would decide to make public details of organ donations happening in government medical colleges and hospitals. Speaking to the media here on Monday, the Minister said such a step would create transparency about the brain death certifying process and build confidence among the people about organ donation. The number of deceased donors has come down heavily over the last one-and-a-half years as there was a lot of scepticism regarding the declaration of brain death. This year, only three organ donations have happened so far. Last year, there were 18 donations while the year before the number was 72. The Minister admitted that organ transplant facilities were better in the private sector, and hence more such surgeries happened in private hospitals. The government medical colleges were in the process of acquiring equipment and training in the area in pursuit of becoming centres of excellence, she added. Regulations The private hospitals, which have more facilities in the field, had taken a lead role in providing a solution to terminally-ill patients. However, to make the process more transparent, the government had introduced a number of checks, which includes the presence of a government doctor in the panel of doctors who certify brain death. One of the main grievances of private hospitals has been the non-availability of government doctors at the crucial time of certifying brain death. The Minister said the complaint would be looked into and action would be taken against doctors who were empanelled for the process but remained unavailable. Efficient network To make the functioning of the Kerala Network of Organ Sharing (KNOS) more efficient, the government had initiated steps to expand the network to all districts, said Ms. Shylaja. Steps have been taken to set up a zonal office for KNOS at the Government Medical College, Ernakulam.

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