Changes in organ transplant rules: A new lease of life

Source: The post is based on the article “Changes in organ transplant rules: A new lease of life published in Indian Express on 20th February 2023.

Syllabus: GS 2 – Issues relating to the development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health.

Relevance: About the revised guidelines for organ donation.

News: The Union Health Ministry has recently revised several guidelines related to organ donation.

What is Organ Donation?

India’s organ transfer law recognises donations by the patient’s close relatives — parents, spouses and siblings. In case, a near relative is medically incompatible with the recipient, the pair is permitted a swap transplant with another related unmatched pair.

What are the revised guidelines for organ donation?

What are the benefits of the revised guidelines for organ donation?

Benefits of removing the upper age limit for registration: The pool of organ donors for a large section of critically ill people above 65 will be wider. Senior citizens in the age group above 65 can now register to receive donations from live donors.

Benefits of removing domicile-related restrictions: Earlier, some states either registered recipients who lived there or accorded priority to them in allocating organs. Now the new guidelines will make organs accessible for timely transplants.

Increase organ transplantation: India conducts the third-highest number of transplants in the world every year. But only 4% of the patients who require a liver, heart or kidney transplant manage to get one.

The new guidelines will increase organ transplantation percentages in India.

What are the issues with organ donation in India?

Problem with organ shortage: It is a complex problem faced by policy planners from not only India but also from nations whose healthcare systems are far better equipped than India’s.

The issue of the black market in organ donation: The majority of organ donations in the country are not by the close kin of patients. This highlights the black market which lures the desperately poor to sell their organs.

An issue with the screening committee: Donors have to convince a screening committee of their altruistic motives. But suggestions to make the proceedings of the committees more transparent have been ignored by authorities.

What should be done to address issues in organ donation in India?

India’s growing burden of lifestyle diseases might increase demand for the pool of organs. Hence, India should increase the pool of organs along with regulatory creativity without compromising on ethical imperatives.

Introduce an opt-out system: It is adopted in some western countries. Under this, all citizens will be donors unless they “opt out”. But for introducing such a system in India, the government should improve awareness of organ donation.