Organ transplant from live-donor to be made easy

Transplantation of Human Organs Act to be amended

The proposed amendment will pave way for easy organ donation within the family.
 However, Dr Ramesh, Secretary of Zonal Coordination Committee of Karnataka for Transplantation, opines that the amendment will make little difference.  “Earlier, if a child needed an organ and if the grandparent is willing to donate, the donor had to obtain an authorisation for transplantation. The proposed amendment, removes this obstacle," he said.

He added that the amendment focuses only on live donors and stresses on 'no commercial transactions' and legal implications. The government must also concentrate on cadaver transplant. The western countries have 95 per cent success rate in cadaver transplant. “The same kind of network must be achieved in our country”, Dr Ramesh felt.
The concept of cadaver transplant is gaining ground in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra. The National Deceased Donor Transplantation Network (NDDTN) is according priority to spread awareness on cadaver transplant as of now. "None of the religions ask people not to donate but stigma still prevails when it comes to organ donations. We need to spread awareness on the concept" said Dr Ramesh.
“The proposed amendment only eases the process of transplantation and swapping organs within the family. Though ‘no commercialisation’ has been highlighted, with the history of organ racket, anyone can become an uncle, aunt and even a wife for a few bucks,” observed M V N Raj, the Director of Bangalore Kidney Foundation. He said that apart from amending the Act, a monitoring committee must be constituted to check on these transplants.

Study on brain deaths
Meanwhile, there is a proposal to introduce the study on brain deaths in the final year MBBS course at Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS). "Although the concept is included in forensic medicine, many doctors are exposed to brain-dead cases only at the intern or post-graduate levels," said Dr Ramesh.
Confirming the proposal,  RGUHS Registrar Dr Vasanth Kumar said that the concept is still under process as Board of Studies will have to approve and recommend the incorporation of any addition in the syllabus.