Hyderabad: The Telangana government is yet to act on the amendments pertaining to organ transplantation, which include punishments for irregularities.
The amendments made by the Central government in 2014 have been stuck with the state law department, which has to sent them to the cabinet for clearance before passing them in the Assembly.
Dr G. Swarnalatha, senior medical professional and incharge of Jeevandan, said, “The TS government has not yet adapted the amendments that include adding grandparents and grand children in the donor pool. This increases the definition of relatives in case of live donations. Furthermore, the Centre recently asked opinion of states to further widen the definition of relatives. The other amendment is related to swap transplantation where a donor in a family can swap organs with a donor in another family.”
Another key amendment is aimed at curbing malpractices by poeple including members from the judiciary and the police in the transplantation authorisation committees at district hospitals and other hospitals in the state.
Dr Swarnalatha said, “Currently, surgical and transplantation experts and senior officials from the health department and directorate of medical education are members of the transplantation authorisation committees.” “The amendments has also hiked fines and imprisonment for irregularities during the organ transplantation,” said Dr Swarnalatha.
For cadaver transplantation, the rules have been relaxed where the brain stem death can be announced by any registered medical practitioner which was previously done by a surgeon or a neuro surgeon.
