Organ Sale Puts Hospitals Under Scanner

Chennai, India - The State Health Department has decided to reconsider the registration granted to 28 city hospitals for kidney transplant following complaints of ''rampant organ sale''.

''We have received complaints that some hospitals do not even qualify for the registration. We plan to make surprise checks in these hospitals to find out if they still deserve the transplant status,'' says Director of Medical Services, Dr Raman, also the authority notified by the state.

The Transplantation of Human Organs Rules, 1995, lays down specific qualifications for registration of hospitals as transplant centres. As a general requirement, the hospital should have adequate staff in surgical, cardiology and nursing departments, apart from medical social workers, perfusionists and intensivists. The Rules also specify 17 departments, including microbiology, mycology, pathology, haematology, cardiology and virology, apart from imaging facilities.

''Some hospitals have managed to get the status without proper facilities as specified by the Rules. For instance, in many hospitals, the staff nurses double up as social workers,'' says a DMS officer.

''Though follow-up on donors is mandatory, many hospitals do not bother either because the donors produce false address or because there is no money. Normally, a donor has to stay in the hospital for 10 days but many complain that they are kept for less than a week,'' he adds.

The DMS, he says, has the power to take suo motu action or issue a notice to a hospital to show cause why its transplant registration should not be cancelled.

The department has also decided to seek police support to break the nexus between brokers and donors. ''The donor-broker-patient nexus is huge. Most brokers are thugs and they exploit both patients and donors. Once we tackle them with the help of police, we will be able to handle the problem of false address and relationships produced by the donors,'' Dr Raman says.

''Sometimes donors even move court without realising that they themselves have violated the law by selling their kidney,'' he adds.

The Director of Medical Education, Dr C. Ravindranth, who is the chairman of the authorisation committee that approves transplants for those other than blood-related donors, says the Health Department is also planning a long-term plan to plug loopholes in the law.

''A high-level committee will meet in the next few days and discuss in detail the loopholes that exist.

We will forward the suggestions for amendments to the state,'' he says.

Copyright © 2002 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.

This article posted March 8, 2003.