Expert committee says there is no trade in organ allocation

CHENNAI: A two- member committee appointed by the state health department to investigate the organ transplant racket has recommended an “infallible” and “more transparent” system for allotment and use of organs. The team found embarrassing clerical errors on part of the state transplant authority, Transtan, and a lack of adequate communication from a transplant hospital, which swapped patients without permission.
The committee headed by the director of medical education Dr A Edwin Joe has concluded its report which will be submitted to the state health secretary J Radhakrishnan on Wednesday.“There was no evidence of organ trade. No Indian patient was overlooked during allotment,” he said.
The team concluded that there was scope for better networking and communication.
Transtan had tagged wrong identification numbers while allocating organs to patients on wait list while a private hospital, Fortis Malar, which was granted permission to use the organ for a patient from Ukraine used it on another patient from Lebanon instead. Although they have mentioned it on the case sheet that the decision was taken as the Lebanon patient was more critical but there was no evidence of communication about this to Transtan.
However, Fortis Malar said that the Lebanon patient was senior to the Ukraine patient and was more critical. “We are allowed to give names of two patients. We did the transplant only after it was allotted to us. We sent the utilization report to Transtan, a day later,” said senior transplant surgeon Dr K R Balakrishnan.
The committee has recommended three categories of waiting list for patients— one category within Tamil Nadu and the other two categories for other states and foreign patients. Until now, Indian patients registered with Tamil Nadu hospitals are given priority. If there are no patients within the state, Transtan puts out notices about the organ to regional registry and national registry for a nation-wide search. The organ is allotted to a foreigner if there are no suitable Indians. “We now want to focus on natives and residents of the state because in some cases it is difficult to mobilise patients quickly for transplant,” said Dr Joe.
In May, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan sought a probe into a complaint against a private hospital in Salem in connection with removing the internal organs of a brain dead patient from Kerala. The family of P Manikandan filed a complaint claiming that Salem-based Vinayaka Mission Super Specialty Hospital removed his vital organs without seeking permission from the family. Following this, reports also alleged that organs were allotted to foreign patients overlooking Indians on waiting list.
Inquires revealed neither of this happened. The Salem hospital said two patients named Manikandan were critically-ill on May 20. While one was discharged against medical advice, the other was declared brain dead. The hospital had sought permission from the family before harvesting organs, the inquiry found. Hospital management then informed Transtan about a potential organ donation. Error by the Transtan staff during allotment was immediately corrected. “It caused no harm. But it is important for an apex body to avoid such errors,” he said.
The lung was allotted to an Indian patient at the Global Hospital, but since the organ wasn’t suitable, it was given to a patient from Israel. The foreign patient died during post-operative care.