Madurai : HC notice to health dept on organ transplant

Madurai: The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court has issued a notice to the health department, the Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu (TRANSTAN) in response to a petition seeking CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in allocation of organs to patients registered with TRANSTAN.

The petitioner, C Anand Raj stated that in the past few years, organs harvested from brain dead patients in Tamil Nadu hospitals were allocated to foreign nationals admitted in private hospitals ignoring deserving Indian patients registered with TRANSTAN.

The petitioner pointed out the case wherein the organs of a young man from Kerala who died in a road accident in May 2018, were harvested by a Salem hospital without the consent of the family members. Kerala chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to his Tamil Nadu counterpart calling for investigations into the allegations, the petitioner stated.

The petitioner also cited a newspaper report which alleged organs being allocated to foreigners after which a probe was ordered by the government.

The petitioner stated that there has been a gross violation of the Human Organs Transplantation Act in various private hospitals across the state and that protocols were violated by office bearers of TRANSTAN. The division bench admitted the petition and issued a notice to the authorities.