LUCKNOW, Oct. 26 -- Uttar Pradesh has launched its first National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO)-approved training programme for transplant coordinators, with over 100 participants from government and private hospitals expected to receive specialised training. The five-day programme, LifeConnect TransCo-ord, began at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) on Sunday and will continue until October 29. Organised by the State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation, Uttar Pradesh (SOTTO-UP), with SGPGIMS and NOTTO, it aims to improve deceased organ donation across the state. Participants will receive NOTTO certificates with registration numbers. The training will cover more than 45 topics, including brain-stem death identification and certification, donor care, counselling grieving families, grief management, organ allocation, transportation and legal procedures. Participants will also learn about the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994, living donation, donation after circulatory death and hospital-level donation programmes. Case studies, films, group activities and assessments will form part of the programme. Transplant coordinators work with intensive care units, medical teams and donor families to identify potential donors, support the certification process, maintain organs, complete documentation and coordinate organ retrieval and transportation. "Every ICU holds the promise of a new life" is the initiative's central message, said Dr Rajesh Harsvardhan, joint director of SOTTO-UP and medical superintendent at SGPGIMS. According to SOTTO-UP, eight families at SGPGIMS, King George's Medical University (KGMU), Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences (RMLIMS), Command Hospital and Apollomedics in Lucknow have donated their deceased relatives' organs since August 2025, helping 22 recipients. SGPGIMS performed its first cadaveric multi-organ transplant in February 2026, the state's first successful heart transplant in April, and its first cornea retrieval from a deceased donor in May....