Does India's organ transplant system favour foreigners and the rich?
This
week, the government of Kerala
announced its intention to implement mandatory requirement for brain death
reporting in intensive care units of the state, de-linking it from organ
donation. This was done in response to concerns raised by civil society
organisations about the perception of selective brain-death declarations in
order to facilitate removal and transplantation of organ to benefit a more
affluent section of society who are treated in private hospitals.
This
is not a new concern. Last month, an enquiry instituted by the Tamil Nadu
government found that organs from deceased donors were being allocated
preferentially to foreign nationals, especially those from the Middle East,
Central Asian republics and Africa.
Especially
concerning is the data on lungs and hearts: 25-33% of such organs are routinely
given to foreign nationals. The reasons put forward are exhaustion of Indians
on the wait list, medical non-fitness of listed Indian recipients, or refusal
because a certain surgeon was not available. A desktop search quickly brings to
notice other such instances, in fact transplanting a foreign national was even
reported as some sort of achievement. Read
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