By IANS
New Delhi : There is no need to amend the Human Organ Transplantation Act, as the present law is “sufficient” to serve the cause, Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan said Saturday.
“There are sufficient laws. They just need to be implemented properly,” Balakrishnan told reporters when asked if the transplant act needed to be changed in the contest of the recent kidney racket.
The chief justice made his comment on the sidelines of a national symposium on kidney diseases at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), where he went as the chief guest
The comment came at a time when the health ministry was considering to bring a change in the law to curb illegal organ transplants.
After the multi-million-dollar illegal kidney racket was unearthed by Uttar Pradesh and Haryana police Jan 24, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said efforts were on to amend the law during the budget session of parliament. He has advocated strong measures against illegal organ transplants.
AIIMS doctors said one out of every 10 Indians – that is 100 million from among over a billion Indians – suffers from one form or another of kidney disease.
Balakrishnan was invited to inaugurate the two-day convention on the prevention of kidney diseases that will also debate flaws in our organ transplant act.
In his inaugural speech the chief justice said he knew little about the theme of the convention. “When you say kidney, it reminds me of police, retention and arrest.”
The AIIMS doctors said that diabetes and hypertension are responsible for more than 60 percent of chronic kidney disease (CKD) cases.
“Nearly 15 percent of adults in urban India are diabetic and 40 percent of them are likely to develop kidney problems. Doctors said about 20 percent of the adult Indians are hyper-tensive and many of them will develop CKD. Many CKD patients also die of cardiovascular complications,” said Y.K. Gupta, a senior doctor at AIIMS.
The experts said every year over 150,000 new patients require dialysis or kidney transplant.