Centre Orders Hospitals to Reveal Organ Transplant Survival Rates on Websites
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has directed all states to ensure that registered organ transplant hospitals disclose post-transplant survival data and publish it on their websites. This move aims to increase transparency and help patients make informed choices based on the success rates of transplant surgeries, particularly for kidneys, lungs, and hearts.
The directive, issued by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO), emphasizes strict adherence to informed consent protocols. Hospitals must provide patients and their families with complete information about transplant procedures, risks, and outcomes.
The decision follows a letter from Dakshina Kannada MP Captain Brijesh Chowta, who highlighted the need for tracking long-term transplant outcomes, including graft survival, complications, and mortality. Chowta also stressed the importance of transparent disclosure of post-transplant survival data and proper patient communication.
NOTTO, which maintains the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Registry, stated that regular and comprehensive reporting of post-transplant data would strengthen monitoring, improve traceability, and support evidence-based policymaking. Dr. Anil Kumar, NOTTO's Director, noted that the registry already includes data on kidney transplant donors and recipients.
However, a senior transplant surgeon in Chennai cautioned that crude mortality rates have limited informational value for individual patients. He argued that without risk-stratified outcomes scrutinized impartially from both government and private hospitals, making informed choices remains difficult. The surgeon also pointed out that collating data on patient survival at six months, one year, three years, and five years is challenging due to the lack of a follow-up mechanism. Deaths post-transplant occur from various factors like age, comorbidities, and other risks, making it tough to verify the accuracy of hospital-reported data.
