NEW DELHI: All hospitals in India should have dedicated teams to counsel families of potential organ and tissue donors, the Centre said in a communication to all states.

Hospitals have been asked to report all deaths, make efforts for timely counselling of family members, and encourage them for organ and tissue donation. The move comes as India faces a huge gap between the number of patients requiring human organ and tissue transplants and the availability of donors.

“It is essential that hospitals should constitute organ and tissue donation teams by involving brain stem death committee members and transplant coordinator / counsellor,” said the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) in a letter to all states.

NOTTO is a national-level oganisation set up under the Union health ministry. NOTTO director Dr Anil Kumar, in his letter, said the organ and tissue donation team must be mandatorily notified of all the deaths happening in hospitals. “Even if the family does not agree to organ donation, the option for tissue donation must be given to the family,” Dr Kumar said in the letter dated October 17.

Tissues such as corneas, skin, bones, and heart valves can be donated from cases of brain-stem-death and cardiovascular deaths in hospitals or due to natural death cases. Tissues can be harvested up to 10 hours after death. One donor can save eight lives.

“India requires nearly one lakh corneas annually, yet only about one-third of this demand is being met. Bone donation, in particular, plays a vital role in the treatment of patients with trauma, nonunion of bone fractures, congenital abnormalities, and other bonerelated disorders,” the letter said.