Lok Sabha Parliamentary Q & A on Organ Donation & Transplantation

 

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

 

LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 1882

ANSWERED ON 02.12.2011

 

ORGAN TRANSPLANTATION

 

1882.     Shri MUNDE GOPINATHRAO PANDURANG

                RAMESH BAIS

 

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:-

 

(a) whether thousands of people undergo transplantation of liver and kidney illegally every year in the country;

 

(b) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government to check such practice;

 

(c) the year-wise number of patients waiting for liver and heart transplantation in the country and the details of number of persons who undergo transplantation of liver, kidney and heart every year;

 

(d) the steps being taken to increase the basic medical facilities required for organ transplantation in the country; and

 

(e) the number of hospitals wherein this facility is available at present?

 

ANSWER

 

THE MINISTER OF HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE (SHRI GHULAM NABI AZAD)

 

(a) & (b): Some alleged illegal transplants of kidneys have come to the notice of Government of India. Information supplied by various States during the last few years regarding such incidents is at Annexure.

 

The Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994 itself contains stringent provisions for punishment for removal and illegal trafficking of human organs. Moreover, penal provisions and prohibitive punishments have been made more stringent in the Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Act, 2011.

 

(c): Health is a State subject. The data is not maintained centrally. However, the estimates based on published studies indicate that there is a wide gap between the demand and the availability of organs such as kidney, liver & heart, etc. There is an estimated requirement of more than one lakh kidneys, fifty thousand livers and fifty thousand hearts etc, while only about five thousand kidneys and three hundred livers are reportedly transplanted every year.

 

(d): Health being State subject, it is for the State Governments to provide health care services.

 

(e): The Hospitals are required to be registered under the Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Act, 2011 in various States by respective Appropriate Authorities in the States concerned. The list, therefore, is not maintained centrally. However, AIIMS, Dr. RML Hospital, New Delhi; PGI, Chandigarh and JIPMER, Puducherry are already carrying out organ transplantation. Action has been initiated to set up organ transplant facilities at Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi.