Chennai, Jan 17 (IANS): Vice President M.Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday here urged Indian states to follow the example of Tamil Nadu in respect organ transplantation.

Addressing a function to felicitate surgeon Mohammed Rela of Gleneagles Global Health City for touching a milestone of 1,000 liver transplants over a seven year period, he noted Tamil Nadu is a pioneer in organ transplantation in the country.

Naidu pointed out the transformation happening in the Indian healthcare field with people from overseas coming to the country for liver transplant from the days of Indians going abroad for such a treatment.

According to State Health Secretary J.Radhakrishnan, 24 free surgeries have been done by Rela and his team under the MoU between Government Stanley Medical College Hospital and Gleneagles and Chennai has become a hub for liver transplants.

According to Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar, it was late Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa who brought a change in the organ transplantion in the state.

He said Jayalalithaa started a corpus resulting in conduct of around 300 free transplants and supply of immune-suppresants.