By NNN-PTI
New Delhi : India is exploring various options for setting up an organ donation system and has zeroed in on the model of “presumed consent” under which everyone would be considered a donor unless they stipulate otherwise.
The move is expected to help thousands of people suffering from organ failure once implemented.
The need to address the acute shortage of donated organs was highlighted in January when a multi-crore scam illegal kidney transplant racket was busted near the capital.
A Health Ministry team, led by Director General of Health Services (DGHS) R K Srivastava, recently visited various countries and studied the different systems in operation there.
“While most of the countries have adopted the presumed concept, in India and the United States we have the expression of consent concept,” Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss told PTI.
In the first concept, it is presumed that any person who is brain dead has agreed to donate his or her organs, while in the second one the family of the person has to agree to let his/her organs be donated.
Ramadoss said there was another model like the one in Iran where the government controlled organ transplantation, but that model has drawn much criticism from experts.