New Delhi, June 8 -- The Union government is preparing to help public hospitals perform more organ transplants after a review showed only a fourth of the 18,000 transplants in 2023 were done by them.

The health ministry has completed a 2023 assessment of all government institutions with a license for organ transplants and it is now in the process of reconciling last year's data.

A lack of medical expertise and dedicated ICU beds for transplant patients have been identified as the main stumbling blocks.

Around 90 government hospitals have a license to conduct organ transplants - a procedure that is expensive in private hospitals but within the reach of the poor in government ones.

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