The Kerala government has decided to provide professional service fees to various categories of health workers, from medical specialists to technicians and bereavement counsellors, whose services are used in deceased organ donation and transplant procedures in the state.
Deceased organ donation is a resource-intensive process that requires the coordinated efforts of many professionals, many of whom must work long hours, often on short notice. Their involvement begins with the declaration of brainstem death and continues with organ harvesting and transplantation.
“Every organ donation from a deceased donor begins with a declaration of brainstem death, which is a difficult process in itself. Doctors are required to perform a series of tests, including apnea tests, which are performed at six-hour intervals. These doctors often come from other hospitals at odd hours to help us. Until now, we have not been able to offer them any remuneration, and they have been providing their services for a long time purely to promote their donation activities.” said Noble Gracious, Executive Director, Kerala State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (K-SOTTO).
This process involves several sequential and highly coordinated activities, including brainstem death certification, bereavement counseling, explaining the patient’s condition to family members, obtaining consent to withdraw ventilator support or organ donation, hemodynamically maintaining the body until organ harvesting is complete, organ evaluation and allocation, providing logistics and green corridors for organ transport and transplant surgery, transport, transport, organ transport. Each of these stages requires expertise and the involvement of multiple professionals.
Specialists such as intensivists, transplant surgeons, grief counselors, anesthesiologists, ICU technicians, OT technicians, and empaneled brainstem death certification physicians play a critical role in this process. In many cases, they remain involved for 24 to 36 hours until all procedures are completed.
“From 2022 we are exploring the possibility of offering professional fees for their invaluable services so that the deceased donation process does not become a burden for them. Many of them contribute beyond their normal working hours and it is important that we recognize both their goodwill and their expertise,” added Dr. Gracious.
In its meeting held in January 2024, the K-SOTTO Executive Committee approved a proposal to provide professional fees to various categories of professionals involved in organ donation from deceased persons along with corresponding rates. The government has now given formal sanction to the proposal and the expenditure will be met from K-SOTTO’s annual budget.
Medical professionals, including intensivists, organ harvesting surgeons, transplant surgeons and anesthesiologists, receive professional fees ranging from ₹5,000 to ₹10,000 for certain hours of service. ICU and OT technicians, transplant nurses, organ perfusionists, bereavement counselors, transplant coordinators, as well as physicians and nurses accompanying the organ for transport will also be compensated for the hours they devote to the process.
Published – 21 Feb 2026 20:31 IST