By IANS
New Delhi : A social activist Tuesday moved the Delhi High Court seeking to make the kidney transplant process more transparent in the light of the kidney theft racket which came to light last month.
Rahul Verma, a social activist, in his public interest litigation (PIL) has demanded that the central and state governments should exempt kits for dialysis from customs duties and taxes, as that is the main reason forcing people to go for illegal means of kidney transplants.
The petition, likely to be heard soon, was filed through advocate Rakesh Prabhakar, who earlier raised the issue of fake sting operations in the high court, leading to directions issued to all TV channels.
The petitioner demanded that the governments should initiate a comprehensive programme for donation of solid organs on the lines of eye donation camps and also review the Human Organ Transplantation Act, 1994, after involving experts from all walks of life.
“We have undergone the same mental trauma when my son was born two years back and suffered from kidney malfunctioning and we realised how difficult it is to pay the heavy expenses for his treatment. So, we thought of moving a PIL seeking a more transparent kidney transplant method,” said Verma.
He added that all government hospitals should encourage people to donate kidneys after death so that needy people’s lives could be saved.
Police on Jan 24 unearthed the racket operated from Gurgoan allegedly by Amit Kumar. It served clients from India and abroad after obtaining kidneys illegally, often under force, from poor people.