Centre eases COVID-19 testing rules for organ transplants, mandatory only for lungs

NEW DELHI: The centre has announced that COVID-19 testing will no longer be mandatory for asymptomatic donors as well as recipients for organ transplantation. However, it will be compulsory in lung transplantation cases. The decision not to make COVID-19 testing mandatory was taken recognising that the organ donation rate in India continues to be very low and there were instances of discarding the organs of asymptomatic donors based on the COVID-19 positive report. But this resulted in loss of the number of donated organs and tissues which could have saved many lives and improved the quality of lives of many others. The revised national transplant specific guidelines for COVID-19 testing for carrying out organ donation and transplantation were issued by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO), under the Union Health Ministry, on Tuesday. The circular, issued by NOTTO Director, Dr Anil Kumar, to all the states, said, Uniform testing for COVID-19 will not be mandatory for asymptomatic donor as well as recipient for organ transplantation cases (both living and deceased donor transplant) except for lung transplantation, where it would be mandatory to do COVID RT PCR test for both donor and recipient. For symptomatic cases of donor or recipient or both, the call for COVID-19 testing may be taken by the treating doctor/clinician based on their assessment of such cases, the circular said. The guidelines being revised are only in respect of the requirement of COVID-19 testing in case of both living and deceased donors and recipients of organ transplantation, it added. However, the revised guidelines said it may be reviewed depending on the situation of COVID-19, from time to time as per the requirement. The change in the national transplant guidelines for COVID-19 testing to carry out organ donation and transplantation were carried out based on the recommendations of the experts of the Apex technical committee of NOTTO for Organ Transplantation. The decision was taken keeping in view the magnitude of COVID-19, which has come down quite significantly and the decreasing number of cases in the country. It listed that the decision was taken recognizing that COVID-19 affects lungs primarily and even in asymptomatic patients can cause damage in lung transplant cases; observing that COVID-19 vaccine status of donor or recipient has not impacted the transplant outcome and at present is also not being implemented under the government Programme; also, observing that waiting for the COVID-19 testing report may sometimes delay the deceased donor organ allocation for transplantation.