NATIONAL ORGAN AND TISSUE TRANSPLANT ORGANIZATION (NOTTO)

Why in News?                                                             

FOUR OUT of five organ recipients in India between 1995 and 2021 were men, according to data collated by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) — numbers which indicate the prevailing gender disparity among those seeking healthcare.

What is National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO)?

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, Government of India. It has following two divisions: “National Human Organ and Tissue Removal and Storage Network” “National Biomaterial Centre.

“National Human Organ and Tissue Removal and Storage Network”

This has been mandated as per the Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Act 2011. The network will be established initially for Delhi and gradually expanded to include other States and Regions of the country. Thus, this division of the NOTTO is the nodal networking agency for Delhi and shall network for Procurement Allocation and Distribution of Organs and Tissues in Delhi.

Function/Activities –

National Network division of NOTTO would function as apex centre for All India activities of coordination and networking for procurement and distribution of Organs and Tissues and registry of Organs and Tissues Donation and Transplantation in the country. The following activities would be undertaken to facilitate Organ Transplantation in the safest way in shortest possible time and to collect data to develop and publish National registry.

National Biomaterial Centre (National Tissue Bank)

The Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Act 2011 has included the component of tissue donation and registration of tissue Banks. It becomes imperative under the changed circumstances to establish National level Tissue Bank to fulfill the demands of tissue transplantation including activities for procurement, storage and fulfil distribution of biomaterials. The main thrust & objective of establishing the centre is to fill up the gap between ‘Demand’ and ‘Supply’ as well as ‘Quality Assurance’ in the availability of various tissues.

The centre will take care of the following Tissue allografts: –

Bone and bone products e.g. deep frozen bone allograft, freeze dried bone allograft, dowel allograft, AAA Bone, Duramater, facialata, fresh frozen human amniotic membrane, high temperature treated board cadaveric joints like knees, hips and shoulders, cadaveric cranium bone graft, loose bone fragment, different types of bovine allograft, used in orthodontics

Skin graft

Cornea

Heart valves and vessels