Armed with the reputation of putting every application for a live kidney transplant through strict scrutiny, the authorisation committees that approve transplants have been asked to take a ‘much sterner’ look from now on, said Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan.
The move comes after Express reported the unearthing of a kidney harvesting racket in the Kovai-Dharmapuri region, which is believed to have been going on for almost a decade.
“We have one of the most transparent systems in place and all the interviews with a legal person, doctor and counsellor are videographed and uploaded immediately. However, the present development has served as a reminder to ensure we have to be even more vigilant in keeping a watch on illegal organ donations,” he said.
The State has three authorisation committees that operate from Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai and all transplants have to be approved by the panel closest to the hospital. Organ donors have to convince the committee that they are related to the recipient in some way and also prove that they are doing so without duress.
Kidneys are the easiest major organ to be transplanted and have been the first-choice target for organ touts, for two reasons — everyone has a spare kidney and there are a whopping 55 transplant centres that can do the transplant across the State. Convenor of the Cadaver Transplant Committee Dr J Amalorpavanathan estimates that almost 1,000-1,200 live kidney transplants are done every year, while transplants from cadavers are limited to about 80-100 annually. Unlike the small number of hospitals authorised to do heart, liver and lung transplants (11, 8 and 5 respectively), the large network of hospitals offering kidney transplants spread across the State’s boundaries has made monitoring a little more difficult.
“All 55 hospitals have a good reputation, but we need to increase monitoring of organ donors, to ensure there is no money exchanged,” said a senior kidney transplant surgeon.