Lok Sabha Parliamentary Q & A on Organ Donation & Transplantation 

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA 

MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE 

LOK SABHA 

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 459 

ANSWERED ON 24.04.2015

PREFERENCE IN ORGAN TRANSPLANTATION

2272 .  Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy

Pralhad Venkatesh Joshi

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Government has proposed preference to Indians over foreigners for organ transplantation, if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; 

(b) whether medical fraternity has opposed the said move of the Government, if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto; 

(c) whether the Government has taken note that organ donation in the country continues to grapple with an acute shortage of donated organs and the situation is worse in case of the infants and if so, the detai ls thereof; 

(d) whether the Government is aware of the corruption in the organ donation system in the country and if so, the details thereof along with the remedial steps taken/ being taken by the Government in this regard; 

(e) whether the Government has formulated/proposes to formulate any concrete policy to regulate organ donation and organ bank in the country and to encourage organ donation and if so, the details thereof; and 

(f) whether the Government has any mechanism to have a centralized registry of organ donors in the country , if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

Answer

THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (SHRI JAGAT PRAKASH NADDA) 

(a) to (f): A statement is laid on the Table of the House 

STATEMENT REFERRED 1U AJ> IHEEL Y I KJ i,v7iv STARRED QUESTION NO. 459 FOR 24 APRIL, 2015 

(a) :The allocation of organs is relevant only in case of organs donated by/retrieved from the deceased donors. These deceased donors are, with rare exception, Indians. It is a world-wide practice that such organs retrieved from deceased resident donors are treated as National resource and allocated to the native citizens. Keeping in view the fact that there are large number of Indian patients waiting for organs for therapeutic purposes, such donated organs are given preferentially to Indian patients. 

(b) :The Department of Health and Family Welfare has not received any objection in this matter from any recognized medical association. 

(c) :Yes. While shortage of or gans is a worldwide phenomenon, it is more acute in India. 

(d) & (e):Health is a State subject. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the respective State Governments to deal with matters related to corruption in such cases. Stringent provisions have, however, been made to deal with commercial dealing in human organs. In pursuance of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues (Amendment) Act 2011, the Government has notified Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules 2014 on 27-3-2014 to regulate organ donation and organ banks in the country. The Government of India has also launched a National Organ Transplant Programme (NOTP) for carrying out the activities for improving access to transplantation facilities by promoting deceased organ donation. A National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) has been set up at Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi for implementing various activities under the programme. To encourage Organ Donation, NOTTO recently celebrated the national Organ Donation Day and conducted a national conference to sensitize Health Secretaries,`Directors of Health Services in the States and other stakeholders. The Department of Health and Family Welfare has also issued NOTP guidelines to regulate organ donation. 

(f) :NOTTO will maintain a National Registry of donors and recipients of human organs and tissues and has recently completed registry formats for Hospital Registration, Donor Pledge and Deceased Donor for Kidney. These have been uploaded in the web-portal of NOTTO.