First phase of Organ Transplantation Institute to be launched soon

The Hindu Bureau

The first phase of the Institute of Organ Transplantation being newly established at Kozhikode will be launched soon now that the State Cabinet has sanctioned the creation of 60 new posts for the Institute.

The Cabinet which met on Wednesday approved 14 posts of Professors, seven posts of Associate Professors and that of 39 Assistant Professors for the Institute.

In the first phase, the Institute of Organ Transplantation will function from Kozhikode Government Medical College. The work on the first phase is expected to begin soon

The government had sanctioned ₹643.88 crore for making the organ transplantation institute a reality. The Institute will be launched with full-fledged facilities, including sophisticated equipment.

The government envisages the Organ Transplantation Institute as an umbrella organisation, which brings together scientists, researchers and expert clinicians and which will coordinate all activities related to organ donation and transplant in the State, including treatment and rehabilitation. The institute will come up on 20 acres at Chevayur in Kozhikode.

The institute will manage not just organ transplants and treatment, but research, teaching, training as well as activities to promote organ donation. It has been envisaged to provide comprehensive care and management of patients, right from the treatment of end-stage organ failure to organ transplant as well as post-transplant rehabilitation.

The institute will be in four blocks of six floors each. The plan is to build a 510-bed modern hospital with 219 general beds, 42 special ward beds, 58 ICU beds, 83 high dependency unit beds, 16 operating rooms, dialysis centre and transplant research centre.

In the first phase, 330 beds and 10 operating rooms will be readied and in the second phase, the remaining 180 beds and six operating rooms will be completed. In the first phase, 14 speciality divisions will come up and seven more in the second phase.

The government also aims to develop the Institute as a major teaching centre and is aiming at launching 31 academic courses.

Once the institute is fully operational, it would have the capacity to handle transplants of various organs, including cornea, kidney, liver, intestines, pancreas, heart, lungs, bone marrow, soft tissue, hands as well as bones, the statement said.

At present, all organ transplant surgeries in the public sector are managed by the Government Medical College Hospitals in Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam and Kozhikode, as well as the General Hospital at Ernakulam.