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Karnataka government thumbs down to man going for domino kidney transplant shocks medical fraternity

Doctors in Mumbai, who worked really hard for a full year to make this domino transplant possible, are disappointed. The country's third domino kidney transplant, involving four donors and four recipients, has tripped over legalities. This four-transplant procedure was to be conducted two each at Hinduja Hospital and LH Hiranandani Hospital.

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The Karnataka government's decision to deny permission to one of the four donors to undergo the domino kidney transplant has surprised many in the medical fraternity as the move is likely to put the lives of the other recipients at risk.

Doctors in Mumbai, who worked really hard for a full year to make this domino transplant possible, are disappointed. The country's third domino kidney transplant, involving four donors and four recipients, has tripped over legalities. This four-transplant procedure was to be conducted two each at Hinduja Hospital and LH Hiranandani Hospital.

A Karnataka resident, who has been denied permission, and his niece were one of the four donor-recipient pairs. He was to donate his kidney to the recipient of another pair, and the chain of donations would have ensured that his niece received the organ from one of the donors in the group.

"The committee has found that as per Human Organ Transplant Act 1994 (HOTA), maternal uncle and niece are not closely related. Hence, permission was denied," said Vinod Kumar, transplant coordinator of State Authorisation Committee, Karnataka.

Dr Pravin Shingare, director, Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) in Maharashtra, who heads the panel on permissions for kidney transplants in the state, said, "How can anyone deny permission in such cases? The word domino is not mentioned in the guideline (Supreme Court) because when the law was enacted, no such case was in front of the committee. They should permit domino kidney transplant because two such transplants have already been performed in the city smoothly."

Dr Vishwanth Billa, the brain behind the concept of domino kidney transplant, said, "For the last one year, we worked really hard on this domino transplant. Everything was planned for these complex surgeries. Now, god knows what."

In the past, refusal of permission by the authorities to perform domino kidney transplant has proved fatal. In 2012, one of the five recipients died waiting for permission from the Andhra Pradesh government. The death of that one recipient led to the entire procedure getting stalled.

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