Health Ministry Working on 'One Nation, One Organ Allocation' Policy

According to official sources, the Union Health Ministry is developing a "One Country, One Organ Allocation" strategy in collaboration with the states to create standardised rules for registration, allocation, and other components of the procedure. The sources stated that a uniform policy will give a higher degree of flexibility to patients who are opting for organ transplants from deceased donors at any hospital in the country.

As per the data released by governmental sources, the overall number of liver transplants from alive donors increased from 658 in 2013 to 2,957 in 2022 and from 240 to 761 in 2022 from deceased donors, respectively.

The health ministry has already advised states to abolish the domicile requirement for registering people who want organs from deceased donors for transplant procedures as part of its efforts to strengthen the policy. Also, it has eliminated the 65-year-old age restriction for people registering to receive organs from deceased donors.

Meanwhile, the National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) has made the required adjustments to the regulations, enabling patients 65 years of age and older to register for organ transplants from deceased donors.

In addition, the Union Health Ministry has asked states not to charge fees for registering such patients after observing that some were doing so in violation of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules, 2014. According to official sources, the fees ranged from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000.