Bhubaneswar: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday laid the foundation stone for the Kerala Institute of Organ and Tissue Transplant (KIOTT) at Chevayur in Kozhikode. The institute will be the country’s first comprehensive public-sector facility dedicated exclusively to organ and tissue transplantation.
Conceived on the lines of advanced transplant centres in the US and China, KIOTT aims to provide state-of-the-art transplant care under one roof at nearly one-third the cost charged by private hospitals. The Rs525-crore project is supported by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board, the CM noted.
With nearly 90% of organ transplant surgeries in India currently carried out in the private sector, the KIOTT project marks a significant step towards strengthening public healthcare and expanding access to life-saving treatment.
In a post on X, the CM said: “KIOTT reaffirms a core principle of the Kerala Model: healthcare is a right, not a commodity.”
Meanwhile, the CM made it clear that the National Population Register (NPR) will not be implemented in Kerala under any circumstances. As preparations for Census 2027 begin nationwide, the State has issued a fresh notification ensuring that no data related to the NPR will be collected.
The government recalled that Kerala was the first State to challenge the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in the Supreme Court and to pass an Assembly resolution opposing it. Vijayan reaffirmed his government’s commitment to protecting constitutional values. The CM made it clear that he would not allow discriminatory processes such as NPR or NRC to threaten the rights of the people.
