K-SOTTO scheme should be revived

The post-mortem organ donation scheme can be implemented most reliably and successfully in the state medical college hospitals. However, Dr. Mohandas, Head of the Nephrology Department at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital, has revealed in a Facebook post that the project 'K-SOTTO' is a complete failure and that no surgeries are being performed at the moment. Following this, the Medical College Principal has taken action to prohibit doctors at the Medical College Hospital from publicly commenting on official issues. The issue raised by those who speak the truth does not go away by silencing them.

If the health department aims at public welfare, then the first thing that needs to be done is to correct the mistakes and solve the problems. The people have seen that the revelations made by Dr. Haris Chirakkal, the head of urology at the medical college itself, were true, and the efforts made by the authorities to defame that doctor in the name of it were ridiculous. There is no doubt that the service provided by the medical college hospitals in the state is excellent despite its shortcomings. However, even if the necessary corrections are in sight and the respective department heads point them out through letters or otherwise, the practice is to ignore them, and this has been going on for some time. It is the responsibility of the health department and those supervising it to recognize that this is a serious disease that has affected the system and to rectify it.

The health and medical education departments are busy creating the impression that everything is safe and sound without rectifying the lapses. It is the common patients who come to medical college hospitals for treatment who have to bear the brunt of this. Patients usually tell their complaints directly to the doctors who treat them. Doctors write to the top as soon as possible, as they are fed up with hearing complaints. Some doctors are forced to reveal what's happening inside because no action is taken. These are not the old days. The doors are open for every person to inform the world about what's happening around them. Dr. Venugopal, who was the head of Urology and who recently left us, and Dr. Ramdas Pisharody, who was the head of Nephrology, are the ones who popularised the 'K-SOTTO' project.

The main reason for the failure of 'K-SOTTO' is the lapses made by government medical colleges in confirming brain death. The government's expenditure of Rs 25 lakh to make brain death confirmation efficient has been wasted at present. It has to be assumed that there is a group ready to sabotage the beneficial plans that the government comes up with. Although they are reluctant to work, they are very strong at the administrative level. That is why those in power are often eager to whitewash such people. There are 2832 people registered with K-SOTTO in the state and waiting for organ transplants. The health department should take steps to help them.