The Government of India enacted the Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Act, 2011. Some of the important amendments under this Act to promote organ donation are:-

        i.            Provision of ‘Retrieval Centres’ for retrieval of organs from deceased donors and their registration under the amended Act.

      ii.            Definition of near relative expanded to include grandparents and grandchildren.

    iii.            Brain death certification Board has been simplified and more experts have been permitted for this certification.

   iv.            ‘Mandatory’ inquiry and informing option to donate in case of unfortunate event of brain stem death of ICU patient for the purpose of organ donation.

     v.            Mandatory ‘Transplant Coordinator’ for coordinating all matters relating to removal or transplantation of human organs.

   vi.            National Human Organs and Tissues Removal and Storage Network at one or more places and regional network

 vii.            National Registry of  Donors and Recipients

viii.            Removal of eye has been permitted by a trained technician to facilitate eye donation.

To create awareness for organ donation:

        i.            Indian Organ Donation Day is celebrated every year since the year 2010.

      ii.            A programme on Organ donation was aired through Lok Sabha Channel to spread awareness in the month of November 2013.

    iii.            Awareness activities were carried out in India International Trade fair to spread the message of Deceased Organ Donation among the public.

   iv.            Regional "Organ Donation Awareness workshops" have been organized in coordination with State Governments during 2011-2012 in the cities of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Puducherry, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune, Chandigarh, &Trivandrum for increasing the awareness among public for organ donation.

     v.            Organ Retrieval Banking Organization at AIIMS has been registering the persons who pledge to donate their organs after death.

   vi.            National Organ Transplant Programme has been approved with main component of Information, Education and Communication activities to promote organ donation from deceased donors.

An online system with a dedicated website is being developed for establishing network for retrieval of organs from deceased /cadaver donors and their allocation and distribution in a transparent manner.

 A computerized system of National Registry of donors and recipients including those waiting for receiving organs from swapping or deceased donors is also going to be put in place. The amended Act-2011 has made a provision of higher penalties for illegal organ trading.

The Draft Transplantation of Organ and Tissue Rules, 2013 were published on the website of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to enable the public at large to file their suggestions/objections to the proposed amendments in the Rules. All the suggestions/objections as received were considered in consultation with the experts from both central and State Governments to finalize the Draft Rules.

The amended Transplantation of Human Organs Rules have been sent to Ministry of Law for final vetting, before gazette notification.

This was stated by Sh. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare in a written reply to the Lok Sabha today.

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MV/GM