Green Corridor: Organ Donation

Green Corridor: Organ Donation

Part of: GS II- Health 

Context:  Recently, a heart was brought from Pune to Chennai with the help of a “green corridor” created for unrestricted movement.

Key takeaways: 

• A green corridor is a demarcated, cleared out special road route created for an ambulance that enables retrieved organs meant for transplant to reach the destined hospital.
• Green corridors require a concentrated effort from transplant coordinators, local police, traffic police and airport staff. Awareness of the general public towards green corridors is also important.
• Procedure: When a patient is declared brain dead and his family consents to organ donation, the availability of a recipient is first checked within the city, state, region and then nationally.
• Need: Organs have a short preservation time, and green corridors ensure the ambulance escapes traffic congestion and reaches the destination in the shortest possible time.
• Coordinated by: The requisite regulatory procedures and coordination was carried out with National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO).

National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation

• National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) is a National level organization set up under Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, located in New Delhi.
• NOTTO’s various state centers are called State Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organisation (SOTTO).
• It coordinates and establishes a network for procurement and distribution of organs and tissues as per the Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Act 2011.
• NOTTO in collaboration with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) is developing a national registry of organ and tissue donors.
• This initiative will help in maintaining data and surveillance of all transplants across the country and also plans to map post-transplant survival rate of patients.
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