Southern States
-
Karnataka
Kidney donation panel reconstituted
By Alladi Jayasri
BANGALORE, JAN. 22. After sitting on the proposal for almost a year, the State Government has reconstituted the Authorisation Committee which clears donation of kidneys by live donors to non-relatives on a case-by-case basis.
But the Government, in reconstituting the committee, notified on December 10, 2001, has ignored one of the main recommendations of the State Task Force on Health -- there is no NGO representative on the panel. The earlier committee, with the Law Secretary as Chairman, included the Director of Health and Family Welfare, and a professor with specialisation in neurology or nephrology as members.
At a meeting in the Law Secretary's Chambers on July 7, 2001, it was decided that the committee would taken on three additional members -- the Commissioner for Health, the City Police Commissioner or his representative, and an NGO representative. This, it was thought, would ensure a modicum of accountability and restraint while granting clearance. The NGO would ensure that refusal to grant approval was handled sensitively, while the police would help check the network of touts which promises ''donors'' at any cost.
Health Department sources told The Hindu that the high incidence of kidney transplants among non-relatives (221 donors and recipients between 1998 and 2000) had prompted the decision to reconstitute the Authorisation Committee.
This, and a slew of other recommendations, were gathering dust for the past five months, even as it came to light that the committee had liberally given clearance for 26 kidney donations to non-relatives between June 1 and August 3, 2001 in gross violation of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994. Appeals that the donor and recipient were ''emotionally bonded'' swayed the committee's decisions and, interestingly, sources pointed out, the committee was not known to insist on even a cursory investigation before granting approval.
According to sources in the Law Department, the suggestion to include an NGO representative was the main cause for the delay. This clause meant that the proposals would have to go to the Chief Minister's office for clearance. After holding up the recommendations till last month, it turns out that the Health Department has quietly cleared the new committee, excluding the NGO member.
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Southern States
|
