Brain death certification comes under govt scanner

Thiruvananthapuram: The State government has made the presence of government doctors mandatory for the certification of brain stem deaths in the state hospitals.

As per new guidelines, the presence of at least one doctor in government service is a must for certifying brain deaths, Health department sources said.

The objective is to make the organ donation process more transparent and ensure that the certification procedure is in adherence to the international protocols, they said.

Deputy District Medical Officers have been empanelled as nodal officers and 10-15 specialist doctors will do brain stem death certification.

State Health Minister K K Shylaja gave directions to empanel more doctors for the certification procedure following concerns and complaints regarding the brain death certification and organ donation process in Kerala.

The first batch of such doctors was provided expert training at the Government Medical College here yesterday.

The training on the international protocols and processes involved in the certification of brain deaths was organised by the Kerala Network of Organ Donation (KNOS), the state governments nodal agency for organ retrieval and sharing.

The training is given by dividing the doctors in three zones, Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozhikode.

While the training for Thiruvananthapuram zone has been completed, for the other two zones it would begin soon, an official release said here.

Though personal inhibitions and religious reasons once stopped people from donating their organs, cadaver transplantation has gained more acceptance in Kerala in recent times.

As many as 253 brain dead persons have donated their organs during the period of August 2012-February 2017, according to Kerala Deceased Donor Transplant Data.

A total of nine people have donated their vital organs in 2012, 36 donors in 2013, 58 in 2014 and 76 in 2015, 72 in 2016 and 2 in 2017 (till February), the figures said.