New Delhi: The Union health ministry has made a change in its organ donation policy to remove a clause that barred people aged above 65 years from receiving organs from dead bodies for transplants.
An individual of any age is now eligible for organ transplants.
The relevant clause in the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) guidelines was done away with as it violated the Right to Life, The Hindu reported, quoting government sources.
Organ donation in India is regulated by the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994.
Another change brought about in this department is that the government has decided to do away with the domicile policy in transplants, under a ‘One Nation, One Policy’ move.
Earlier, an organ recipient could only register for a transplant in her domicile state. This was quashed by the Gujarat high court last year.
A patient can now register in any state for a transplant. A unique identity number will tag the patient across hospitals in various states.
The health ministry has also asked states to stop charging fees for organ recipient registrations.
Some states charge between Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000, Times of India has reported.
The health ministry’s online portal says that an estimated 1.8 lakh persons suffer from renal failure every year, however the number of renal transplants done is around 6,000 only.
Similarly, an estimated 2 lakh patients die of liver failure or liver cancer annually in India, about 10-15% of whom can be saved with a timely liver transplant.
The 25,000-30,000 liver transplants are needed annually in India. The number of those performed is around 1,500.
Around 50,000 persons suffer from heart failures annually but only about 10 to 15 heart transplants are performed every year in India. In case of cornea, about 25,000 transplants are done every year against a requirement of 1 lakh.
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