Modi govt makes big changes to organ transplant rules — 65 yr age cap removed single waiting list

Modi govt makes big changes to organ transplant rules — 65 yr age cap removed single waiting list

Those in need of transplants can register for organs anywhere in the country and not just in their state. For remote areas, government working on plan to use drones for delivery.

New Delhi: The Modi government has, in a series of ground-breaking changes to organ transplant regulations in the country, decided to remove the 65-year age cap for recipients and allow all Indians, regardless of their state of domicile, to register under a single waiting list.

The steps, say top sources in the ministry of health, are aimed at better and more equitable access to organs and also to promote cadaver donations, which currently form a minuscule fraction of all organ transplants carried out in India.

Current rules require prospective organ recipients to register for organs only in the state in which they reside.

Interstate transfer of cadaver organs happens only in exceptional cases when no eligible recipient is available in that state and the transfer is logistically feasible.

A senior functionary in the health ministry told ThePrint: “Three important changes are being made in the organ donation rules. The age cap for receiving an organ, which used to be 65 years, will no longer be there. This decision is being taken considering the right of any person irrespective of their age, to a healthy life.”

The second, the official said, was that registration for organs can now happen anywhere in the country.

“We are moving towards one nation one waiting list for cadaver organs. The third important change is that we are doing away with the registration fee that states used to charge for this purpose,” the official said.

Officials also said that the plan is to eventually transport organs from one location to another using drones to help remote parts of the country get access to organs.

But this would be subject to the availability of transplant, an official said.

On Thursday, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted that AIIMS, Hrishikesh, had successfully conducted a pilot initiative in which a drone was used to transport 2 kg anti tubercular drugs to a location in Tehri Garhwal, about 40 km away, in 30 minutes.

Increase in transplants

Health ministry data shows that in the last nine years, organ transplants have increased manifold. Though the government doesn’t have data on what percentage of these happened in government hospitals, the mainstay of India’s transplant programme continues to be private hospitals.

Between 2013 and 2022, living kidney transplants went up to 9,834 from 3,495, and deceased transplants to 1,589 from 542, the data shows.

Liver transplants from deceased donors are up to 761 from 240 while those from living donors went up to 2,957 from 658.

There has been a more than eight-fold increase in heart transplants to 250 in 2022 from 30 in 2013, and lung transplants have gone up to 138 from 23.

In addition, 24 pancreas and three small bowel transplants were performed in 2022.

Taken together, transplants from living donors are up to 12,791 from 3,153 and those from deceased donors are up to 2,765 from 837.