CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Government has decided to strengthen the State Authorisation Committee to regulate organ transplantation under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, even while taking steps to fulfil the requirements of needy patients and safeguarding donors from the onslaught of middlemen, according to Health Minister K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran.

Replying to a special mention made by Congress Whip Peter Alphonse and Pattali Makkal Katchi leader G.K. Mani on the illegal transplantation of kidneys acquired from unrelated donors, more particularly those belonging to the poor, he said apart from medical personnel, the State Authorising Committee would comprise police and revenue officials and legal experts.

The right strategy to curb illegal organ transplantation would be cadaver transplantation by acquiring human organs from the brain-dead, Mr. Ramachandran said. Apprehensions and fear among the related donors had posed problems for kidney transplantation. Even while resorting to legal steps to curb illegal kidney donation, the Government had the responsibility to safeguard the interest of patients, he said.

The Chief Minister had called for action against those behind the illegal kidney transplantation. Proper action would be taken against the hospitals and medical personnel involved in the illegal acts, he said. The Government had also taken care to ensure that the patients on dialysis and those who needed transplantation were attended to through legal methods, he pointed out.

Show cause notices

Licences with respect to organ transplantation had been cancelled in the case of M.R. Hospital and Aswini Soundarya Nursing Home in Chennai, and show cause notices had been served on them for forging transplantation orders, he said. Show cause notices had been served on four other hospitals — Apollo Speciality, Meenakshi Mission, A.B.C. Hospital and Vedanayagam Hospital for not performing H.L.A. typing. The Government had also sent show cause notices to nine other hospitals for not maintaining Form III and Form IV relating to organ transplantation, he added.

Of the 54 hospitals, which had been granted licences for organ transplantation, five were Government hospitals and the remaining private, Mr. Ramachandran said.

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