CHENNAI: After recent incidents of alleged sale of kidneys in Namakkal, the Tamil Nadu Health and Family Welfare Department has reconstituted the State-level Authorisation Committee (SAC) and District-level Authorisation Committees (DACs) for scrutinising and granting approvals for live organ donations across the state.
After the complaints of illegal organ transplants sparked legal and political troubles for the state government, licences granted to two hospitals for kidney transplantation were cancelled by the authorities.
The government order issued this week by health secretary P Senthilkumar, however, did not cite that as the reason for the reconstitution of the panels. It, instead, pointed to letters sent by the Director of Medical Education and Research (DME) in April 2023, October 2023, and in February 2024 on the need for these panels to be “reformed to make them more accountable and efficient”. The new order has been issued nearly 18 months after the acceptance of a revised proposal from DME.
The new government order constituted four zonal-level DACs, one each for northern, western, southern, and central districts.
The order said the DACs will be headed by Deans of Madras Medical College (Northern DAC), Thanjavur Medical College (Central DAC), Coimbatore Medical College (Western DAC), and Madurai Medical College (Southern DAC).
Panels to check for altruistic intentions in donation
Applications from all foreign nationals or people from other states admitted in any registered hospital in the state for transplants will be scrutinised by the SAC and not the DACs. The state committee shall also oversee the functioning of the district-level committees, the order said.
DACs can also decide on applications for transplant of natives of Tamil Nadu, being treated in authorised hospitals in their jurisdiction. The committees can receive and process applications both from near-relative and other than near-relative donors.
Importantly, the order said the committees should delve into the circumstances under which the donor and recipient met and whether there is altruistic intention in the donation, by speaking to near relatives and friends over phone and directly whenever possible to rule out any coercion.
The order also said that in the case of recipients, who are native of other states or foreign countries and non-residents of Tamil Nadu, any non-relative donor should normally be from their state or country and they should bring clearance from the concerned authorisation committee governing their area.
The order insisted that tests for Human Leukocyte Antigen (HAL) matching, done before transplant, should be done at a lab not attached or affiliated to the hospital where the transplantation is to be performed.
The order also stated that the hospital should submit a monthly report to the respective authorisation committee and the Director of Medical and Rural Health Services about the details of all applications submitted, accepted, rejected, pending and the transplants done.
The order also increased the processing fee collected for application from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000, of which 50% will be remitted to government and remaining 50% to be utilised by the respective committee towards administrative expenditure.
Panel to vet requests of foreigners
State-level panel will scrutinise applications from all foreign nationals or people from other states admitted in any registered hospital in Tamil Nadu for organ transplants. Deans of goverment medical colleges will head the district-level committees in four zones across the state