As private hospitals in India prefer affluent abroad patients to Indians in the regard of heart and kidney transplants, the Union Health Ministry has set up guidelines to ensure that Indians, Non-Resident Indians and Person of Indian Origin are given preference for aid over foreigners in receiving organs donated by Indian donors.
It has also requested the states to assure financial assist to the indigent Indian applicants.
Among two lakh patients in waiting line for kidneys, only 8,000 negotiate to get them for transplantation and only 50 hearts are acquirable against the demand of 50,000 in a year.
“Top preference should be given to Indians, followed by NRIs and PIOs. Foreigners should be the last priority. But we have noted that some are ignoring Indians and giving priority to foreigners who have deep pockets. This is against ethics and rules,” said Dr. Vimal Bhandari, Head of the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) under the Union Health Ministry.
He further said, “Heart and kidney are precious. There is a wide gap between the number of applicants and organs available. At a time when our people are waiting for transplants, choosing a foreigner is not correct. We have reports where hospitals, particularly in metros like Chennai and Mumbai gave foreign nationals preference for transplants.”
As the new rule been set up, Foreigners have to registered with National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organization beforehand, while applying for donated organs and it is mandatory that states send monthly reports on Foreigners waiting to receive organs form deceased donors to India.
“Foreigners shall be considered for organ allocation from deceased Indian donors only when no suitable Indian/NRI/PIO recipient is available throughout the country. Such foreigners have to be registered with endorsement from Embassy concerned. All details like type of visas, passport number, embassy endorsements, etc, shall be provided to the NOTTO,” said the official.
By Sowmya Sangam
