The expert committee said there were many instances of discarding the organs of asymptomatic donors due to a COVID-19 positive report, leading to loss of donated organs and tissues.
In a significant change in policy, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has announced that uniform testing for COVID-19 would not be mandatory henceforth for asymptomatic donor as well as recipient for organ transplantation.
However, COVID RT-PCR test would remain compulsory for lung transplantation cases even in asymptomatic persons as the infection primarily affected the lungs. The change in the national transplant guidelines for COVID-19 testing to carry out organ donation and transplantation was announced on Tuesday.
Acting on the recommendations of the apex technical committee of National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO), the decision to dispense with the COVID-19 test for organ or tissue transplantation was taken. For symptomatic cases of donor or recipient or both, the call for COVID-19 testing would be taken by the treating doctors/clinicians based on their assessment.
Organs wasted
The experts committee said there were many instances of discarding the organs of asymptomatic donors due to COVID-19 positive report leading to loss of donated organs and tissues that could have saved the lives or improved the quality of life of numerous people.
While organ donation rate in India continued to be very low, the waiting period for the COVID-19 testing report sometimes delayed the deceased donor organ allocation for transplantation. COVID-19 vaccine status of donor or recipient had not impacted the outcome of transplant and vaccination was not being implemented under government programme, a note sent to Health Secretaries of all States/Union Territories said.
At present, the incidence of COVID-19 cases had significantly come down across the country. The guidelines would be reviewed depending on situation of COVID-19, from time to time as per the requirement.
Published – November 12, 2025 05:00 am IST
