Many organ transplant rules were flouted for his (Natarajan) organ transplantation, says Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan
BJP's Tamil Nadu unit on Thursday sought a probe into the organ transplant procedure of M Natarajan — husband of jailed AIADMK leader VK Sasikala — following allegations of Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu (Transtan) rules violations.
"Many organ transplant rules were flouted for his (Natarajan) organ transplantation. There are many questions. How was a poor youth brought to a corporate hospital? Who paid for him?" BJP state president Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan said.
A 19-year-old daily wager suffering from severe head injuries was brought to the Gleneagles Global Health City (GGHC) Hospital in Chennai for 'second opinion and specialised care' in an 'air ambulance' on Monday night 'against medical advice' of Thanjavur Government Medical College Hospital. Hours later, Karthik was declared brain dead, and his organs were harvested with the consent of his parents with Natarajan receiving his liver and kidney.
A professor from government medical college said that this a clear case of organ trade. "If the money for the air ambulance was paid by someone else, then it amounts to buying of organ," the doctor said, adding that the case should be investigated.
Stating that functioning of such private hospitals in profiteering motives leads to denial of organs to poor patients who were waitlisted, she demanded that with the doctor who gave go-ahead himself facing several charges, "this case should be thoroughly investigated".
Karthik's sisters told reporters in Pudukottai that an advocate had offered to help treat their brother in a private hospital in Chennai, but they claim they don't know the lawyers name.
"Advocate told us that he would take the money for the treatment expense from the insurance claim. He assured our brother will get a better treatment in Chennai," claimed Parvati one of the sisters. She also said that they did not take any money for donating her brother's organs and they did not know who got the organs too. However, she said Karthik was unconscious in the Thanjavur hospital. Karthik's body was hurriedly cremated on Wednesday at 8 pm without even being taken to their home.
The GGHC hospital, in a statement, on Wednesday claimed that as per the guidelines of Transtan, liver, heart, lungs and one kidney were allocated to GGHC, Chennai as this was an in-house organ donation. The other kidney was allocated to the common pool as per government regulations, it added.
To prevent commercialisation of the organ donor programme, Transtan has issued an advisory dated December 7, 2015, on the harvesting of organs from the brain dead declared patient who was transferred from one hospital to another. "The organs of the donor will be allocated to the first hospital where possible brain stem death identification was done and the second hospital will be allocated share organs only as per their turn in share/wait list," the advisory said.
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