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.
