NEW DELHI: If you want a driving licence, get ready to donate your organs and tissues in case you die in a road accident.
The Centre is likely to come out with a notification soon making it mandatory to sign up for organ and tissue donation while applying for a driving licence. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has prepared a notification for the purpose and the same is under consideration at the highest level.
In fact, this was the long-pending assurance given by the Centre in Parliament during the 15th Lok Sabha. In a written reply on December 7, 2012, to MPs P Venugopal and Madhu Yaskhi Goud, the then Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had assured the House that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways was looking into the issue, wherein it would be mandatory for driving licence applicants to donate organs in case of fatality and that an amendment to Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, was also under consideration.
Now, the Parliamentary Committee on Government Assurances, which scrutinises promises given by ministers on the floor of the House, found fault with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for not keeping its word even after three years.
The Committee, headed by BJP MP Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, reminded the representatives of the Ministry of Health that all the assurances are to be implemented with a time-period of three months and if any assurance cannot be implemented within three months, the ministry concerned has to seek extension of the time from the Committee. While deposing before the Panel, Secretary of the Health Ministry pointed out that for transplantation of human organs, donor organs in adequate number were not available. To address the problem, he said, “When we issue driving licence, then at that time we should issue an undertaking that if the person dies in an road accident, his/her organs could be taken for use of others.”
The Secretary of Health Ministry informed the Committee that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has prepared a notification for the purpose. It was informed that the Ministry of Road Transport has also accepted the transfer of the said assurance.
“The fact remains that the assurance in the matter is still pending for implementation. In case, the Ministry of Road Transport has accepted the said assurance, then it is obligatory on the part of the Ministry of Health to impress upon them to implement the assurance without further delay,” the Committee observed.