Tamil Nadu’s Deceased Organ Donation programme came in for praise in the April 2013 edition of the British Medical Journal. A commissioned article by Sandhya Srinivasan  - Has Tamil Nadu turned the tide on the transplant trade? – documents Tamil Nadu’s journey from being the hub of kidney trade to having the best run deceased organ donation programme in India.

“Tamil Nadu has shown that it is possible to run a publicly-supported programme of deceased donor organ retrieval, sharing and transplant, with transparency,” said Sanjay Nagral, transplant surgeon at Jaslok Hospital, Mumbai, and joint secretary of the non-profit Zonal Transplant Coordination Centre (ZTCC) in the city.

The article states that between the launch of the Tamil Nadu government’s Cadaver Transplant Programme (CTP) in October 2008 and February 2013, at total of 573 kidneys, 286 livers, 52 hearts, and 15 lungs from 317 dead donors were retrieved and transplanted in the state. The number of dead donors rose from 59 in 2009 to 83 in 2012.

The programme involves collaboration between government, non-profit organizations (like MOHAN Foundation and National Network for Organ Sharing), and public and private hospitals. A transparent and equitable organ sharing system has also been put in place.

The article quotes State Convenor, CTP, Dr. J. Amalorpavanathan, “We work with two-and-a-half people, a couple of computers, and a budget of just Rs. 10 lakh a year, yet we are able to generate half as many donations as a typical organ procurement organisation in the West does, with more than 100 staff.”

“The Tamil Nadu programme works because it has strong government support, it serves the poor through public hospitals, and possibly because of the commitment and abilities of the individuals involved. It is an example for other States to follow,” the article says.