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Kidney racket bust in Delhi jolts Mumbai panel into action

The Maharashtra Authorisation Committee is planning on asking hospitals to check all transplant-related documents thoroughly.

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Taking a serious view of the recent busting of a kidney racket in Delhi, the Maharashtra Authorisation Committee, responsible for giving permission to conduct kidney transplants, has decided to send fresh directives to hospitals, asking them to check all transplant-related documents thoroughly.

In India, kidney transplant is performed under the Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA)-1994, which was amended in 2014. According to the law, donors and recipients should be close relatives and then they need not take permission from the state government committee. The hospital-level committee can permit such transplants. If the donor is an extended relative, from outside the state or country, or if it is a case of swap transplant, such cases go to the state authorisation committee for permission.

Three days ago, the Delhi police busted a kidney racket in the city's leading private hospital. Five people were arrested and three of them were believed to be touts who arranged for donors. Donors were shown to be relatives or spouse of recipients on the basis of forged documents.

A senior nephrologist from Mumbai, requesting anonymity, said, "No hospital takes the risk of forging documents for a transplant. I really don't know how this happened in Delhi. If the donor and the recipient are close relatives, the hospital-level committee itself can permit the transplant. This committee makes sure to check all the documents and conduct interviews."

Cadaver donation is one of the solutions to avoid all these problems, but the demand is huge and the supply lags behind. Dr Pravin Shingare, chairman of the Maharashtra Authorisation Committee, said, "Following the Delhi incident, hospitals have to take more precautions now. We will send fresh directives to all the hospitals. They have to take extra precaution while checking documents."

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