AIIMS Bhubaneswar to establish regional centre of excellence for organ transplantation and artificial intelligence
Bhubaneswar: A Dissemination Workshop-cum-Regional Continuing Medical Education (CME) programme on “Organ Transplantation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare” was successfully organised by All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar in collaboration with the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS), today.
The programme witnessed participation from over 300 doctors representing four states Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, and Jharkhand, along with eminent experts in the fields of organ transplantation and AI in healthcare. The attendees included representatives from AIIMS Patna, AIIMS Deoghar, AIIMS Kalyani, and AIIMS Bhubaneswar, among others.
Addressing the inaugural session, Subhasish Panda, Additional Secretary, Prime Minister’s Office(PMO), New Delhi, highlighted the transformative potential of AI in organ transplantation. AI could be a way forward for organ transplant by integrating vast datasets and assisting specialists in making informed decisions. He emphasized that AI can facilitate efficient donor-recipient matching using genetic, clinical, and laboratory data, enable real-time tracking of organ availability, optimize transportation routes for faster delivery, improve decision-making through predictive analytics and dashboards.
Panda further stated that India ranks as the third leading country globally in organ transplantation, with approximately 20,000 transplants conducted last year. However, he pointed out that nearly 82% of donations are from living donors. Women constitute the largest donor group. A significant proportion of transplants occur in the private sector, limiting affordability. He stressed the need for increased public awareness and greater participation from government institutions.
Panda said that AI could connect the entire together and tell us where the organ is available, it could also route or chart for us how the organ can be transported, which is the optimum route, minimum time taken for the organ to reach its destination where the transplant is going to take place.
With the vision of the Prime Minister and efforts of the Government of India in conjunction with the state governments, availability of access to treatment to medical care, medical education has taken a high stride. WHO has recognized the fact that India is a leading country globally in terms of reduction of maternal mortality rate (MMR) and infant mortality rate (IMR). Lauding the progress of AIIMS Bhubaneswar, the senior bureaucrat attributed that where Bhubaneswar did not have any good healthcare centres, we first of all had AIIMS sanctioned by the government of India and this has come out to be one of the eminent AIIMS in the country along with AIIMS Delhi.
Prof. (Dr.) Ashutosh Biswas, Executive Director & CEO of AIIMS Bhubaneswar, underscored the urgent need to expand donor pools, strengthen institutional readiness, and align with national policy strategies.
