Aimed at preventing any possible commercial dealings in organ or tissue transplantation of foreigners, Health Secretary Apurva Chandra, in a written communication, alerted the Ministry of External Affairs of possible violations and asked support to establish systems for monitoring the process.
The Health Ministry said many foreign nationals were coming to India for various types of organ transplantation. They could be a prospective recipient or donor of organs and might be visiting on a medical/attendant visa.
“A recent media report has highlighted that in some 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,’’ noted Mr. Chandra in his January 30 letter to Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs.
Listing out the provisions specifically for foreigners under the Transplantation of Human Organ and Tissues Act (THOTA), 1994, the Ministry has sought that these rules be disseminated to all embassies/ missions of foreign countries located in India and also to concerned government, in case embassy/mission is not existing in India.
Nodal officer sought
The Health Ministry has also requested that a nodal officer may be identified by the Ministry of External Affairs for coordinating the organ donation and transplantation of foreigners and the same may also be communicated to National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO).
Meanwhile, India has now adopted the “One Nation, One Policy” for organ donation and transplantation.
“Under the policy, it has been decided to remove the requirement of domicile of the State for registration of patients requiring organ transplantation from deceased donors. Now such patients will be able to go to any State and register themselves for organ transplantation. As per the new government guidelines, the upper age limit of 65 years for eligibility for registration to receive deceased donor organs has been removed. Now, a person of any age can register for receiving deceased donor organs,’’ explained the Health Ministry.
As per the data available with NOTTO, 15,561 organ transplants took place in the country in the calendar year 2022.
Published - February 13, 2024 08:35 pm IST
