Let hospitals decide on organ swapping, state tells Centre

The state government recently sent a recommendation to the Centre urging it to allow hospitals to take a decision on swapping of vital organs between unrelated donors and not necessarily to pass such cases to the state authorisation committee for clearance. The union health ministry that is now planning to make swapping of vital organs between willing but incompatible donors legal as amendments to the Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994.

“As per the Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994, close relatives — mother, father, brother, sister, spouse, son and daughter— can donate organs at the hospital level without approaching the authorisation committee. But they have to refer unrelated donors’ cases to the state. In order to speed up the process, permission to swap organs should be granted at the hospital level itself,” said Dr Pravin Shinghare, joint director, Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER).