MEA told to monitor organ transplantion process

Published: 15th Feb, 2024

Context

The Union Health Ministry has written to the Ministry of External Affairs to identify a nodal officer for coordinating organ donations and transplants undertaken by foreigners to prevent any possible commercial dealings in the process.

What is the need?

Many foreign nationals are coming to India for various types of organ transplantations. They could be a prospective recipient or donor of organs and may be visiting on a medical or attendant visa.
A "recent media report has highlighted that in some such cases, the veracity of the documents to establish relationship between the donor and the recipient, their identity documents, proof of residence etc. cannot be established confidently and the same may not be genuine".
The Union Health Ministry has written to the Ministry of External Affairs to identify a nodal officer for coordinating organ donations and transplants undertaken by foreigners to prevent any possible commercial dealings in the process.

What is organ transplantation?

The transplantation of an organ from one body to another is known as the organ transplant.
The person who gives the organ is called the donor while the one who receives is called the recipient.
Organ transplant is done to replace the recipient's damaged organ with the working organ of the donor so that the recipient could function normally.

Despite performing the third-most number of transplants in the world, only about 0.01 percent of Indians donate their organs after death, according to the World Health Organisation.

What are the laws and rules governing the organ transplantation in India?

Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994:The primary legislation in India related to organ donation is Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994. The Act provides a system of removal, storage and transplantation of human organs for therapeutic purposes and for the prevention of commercial dealings in human organs.
Recent changes: India has also updated its organ donation and transplant guidelines where
- No domicile criteria for receivers: The domicile requirement has been done away with.
- No age ceiling: With the new changes, patients who are 65 years and older can now register for receiving organs from a deceased donor.
- No registration fees:The states are requested to not impose any fees on patients seeking registration for organ transplantation, as it violates the 2014 Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules.

Organ donation in India (Government data):

Organs from deceased donors accounted for nearly 8% of all transplants in 2022in the country.
The number of transplants has increased over the years.
The total number of deceased organ transplants climbed from 837 in 2013 to 2,765 in 2022.
The total number of organ transplants – with organs from both deceased and living donors – increased from 4,990 in 2013 to 15,561 in 2022.
India conducts the third highest number of transplants in the world.
- Every year, an estimated 1.5-2 lakh people need a kidney transplant. Only around 10,000 got one in 2022. Of the 80,000 people who required a liver transplant, less than 3,000 got one in 2022. And, of the 10,000 who needed a heart transplant.

National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO)

The NOTTO is a national-level organisation housed in the Institute of Pathology (ICMR).
It is mandated to establish a network for organ procurement and distribution and to maintain a national registry for the purpose of surveillance of organ donation and transplantation in the country.
It was established under the Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

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MEA told to monitor organ transplantion process