Government doesn’t monitor transplant details: Secretary

Stating that even though he was a part of the Transplant Authority committee, health secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan said, “We are not informed on a daily basis on what transplant takes place or on the availability of organs. While this lack of government involvement in TRANSTAN affairs has been an advantage, it is also proving to be a disadvantage,” the official said in response to a report carried by this newspaper regarding irregularities in TRANSTAN allocation of organs. 

When asked about the circular that was sent by the Transplant Committee in 2015 to all transplant hospitals, he said, “The Cadaver Transplant programme, since 2008, is decentralised. The beauty of TRANSTAN is that they don’t involve secretaries in day to activities and hence it is successful. If something is wrong, they will answer and if something is right, they will get credit.”