By IANS
New Delhi : The health ministry has proposed wide amendments to the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, including setting up of an authority independent of Director General of Health Services (DGHS) in the capital, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said Tuesday.
Ramadoss informed the Rajya Sabha that changes are intended to facilitate genuine cases, increase transparency in transplantation procedures and to provide deterrent penalties for violation of the law.
The ministry proposes to empower union territories, especially government of Delhi, to have their own appropriate authority instead of the DGHS. It also intends to make the punishments harsh and offences cognizable to deter illegal transplantation activities.
If the proposals get parliament’s approval, it will provide for registration of the centres for removal of organs from the cadavers and brain dead patients for harvesting of organs.
It will also allow swap operations between the related donors and recipients who do not match among themselves but match with other similar donors and recipients, the minister said.
An amendment to the organ transplant Act was discussed after the Uttar Pradesh and Haryana Police jointly unearthed a multi-billion dollar kidney transplant racket in Gurgaon, on the outskirt of Delhi in January.