Srinagar,  May 11:

In an unprecedented development, the Health and Medical Education Department has notified J&K Transplant of Human Organs and Tissues Act of 2019 repealing the previous Organ Transplant Act of 1997.
The rules have been issued by the H&ME department after the approval by the State Administrative Council (SAC) to make organ transplantations transparent in the State.
“In exercise of powers conferred by section 24 of the J&K Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1997, the government is making the rules,” reads a notification issued by the government.
It said that subject to the provisions of Section 3 of the Act, a living person may authorise the removal of any organ or tissue of his or her body during his or her lifetime as per the prevalent medical practices.
“For the purpose of certifying the brain-stem death, the appropriate authority shall maintain a panel of experts in accordance with the provisions to ensure efficient functioning of the board,” it said. “To give an organ for transplantation is an act of selfless generosity. It can save lives and can improve the quality of the recipients’ life.”
AUTHORIZATION COMMITTEE
The medical practitioner who would be part of the organ transplant team for carrying out transplantation operation would not be a member of the authorisation committee constituted under the law.
REMOVAL AND PRESERVATION OF ORGANS
The removal of organs would be permissible in any registered retrieval or transplant hospital and preservation of such removed organ or tissue should be ensured in the registered retrieval centre according to scientific methods in order to ensure availability for the purpose of transplantation.
COST FOR RETRIEVAL OF ORGANS
The cost for maintenance, retrieval of organs, their transportation and preservation should not be borne by the donor family but by recipient or institution or government or non-governmental organisation or society as directed by the government.
APPLICATION FOR LIVING DONOR TRANSPLANTATION
The donor and recipient should jointly make an application to grant approval for removal and transplantation of a human organ, to the competent authority. The papers for approval of transplantation would be processed by the registered medical practitioner and administrative division of the institution for transplantation.
MAKING OF AUTHORIZATION COMMITTEE
As per the law, there should be one State-level authorisation committee. Besides additional authorisation committees in the districts or hospitals may be set up as per the norms which would be revised. No member from transplant team should be a member of the respective authorisation committee.
VERIFICATION
When the living donor is unrelated and if a donor or recipient belongs to a state other than the state where the transplantation is proposed to be undertaken, verification of residential status by Tehsildar or any other authorised officer be ensured for the purpose with a copy marked to the appropriate authority of the State in case of any doubt of organ trafficking.
SCRUTINY OF APPLICATIONS
Secretariat of authorisation committee should circulate copies of all applications received from a proposed donor and recipient to all members of the committee along with all annexures.
PROCEDURE IN CASE OF NEAR RELATIVES
Where the proposed transplant of organs is between near relatives related genetically, namely, daughter, grandmother, grandfather, mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter, grandson and granddaughter above 18, document evidence be obtained.
PROCEDURE IN CASE TRANSPLANT OTHER THAN NEAR RELATIVES
Where the proposed transplant is between other than near relatives and all cases where the donor or recipient is foreign national, the approval would be granted by the authorisation committee of the hospital or by district or state-level committee.
PROCEDURE IN CASES OF FOREIGNER
In this case a senor embassy official of the country of origin has to certify the relationship between donor and recipient and in case a country does not have an embassy, the certificate of relationship should be issued by the government of that country.
ELIGIBILITY OF APPLICATION TO DONATE
In the course of determining eligibility of the applicant to donate, the applicant should be personally interviewed by authorisation committee which should be videographed and interview be recorded.
DECISION OF AUTHORIZATION COMMITTEE
The authorisation committee should state in writing reason for rejecting and approving the application of proposed living donor in the prescribed format.
REGISTRATION OF HOSPITAL
The appropriate authority should after inquiry satisfy itself that the applicant has complied with all the requirements grant a certificate of registration and it should be valid for a period of five years and should be renewable.
GRANT OF REGISTRATION FOR ORGAN RETRIEVAL CENTER
The retrieval center should be registered only for the purpose of retrieval of organ from deceased donors and the centre should be a hospital having ICU with adequate manpower and infrastructure.
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
The government should constitute an advisory committee under the chairmanship of administrative expert not below rank of secretary to the government for two years to aid and advise medical experts in the field of organ transplantation.

Courtesy: Rising Kashmir