After kidney controversy, TN overhauls organ donation panels

AFTER recent incidents of alleged sale of kidneys in Namakkal, the Tamil Nadu Health and Family Welfare Department has reconstituted the State-level Authorisation Committee (SAC) and District-level Authorisation Committees (DACs) for scrutinising and granting approvals for live organ donations across the state.

- SINDUJA JANE @ Chennai

After the complaints of illegal organ transplants sparked legal and political troubles for the state government, licences granted to two hospitals for kidney transplantation were cancelled by the authorities.

The government order issued this week by health secretary P Senthilkumar, however, did not cite that as the reason for the reconstitution of the panels. It instead pointed to letters sent by the Director of Medical Education and Research (DME) in April 2023, October 2023, and in February 2024 on the need for these panels to be "reformed to make them more accountable and efficient". The new order has been issued one-and-half years after the acceptance of a proposal sent by the DME.

The new government order constituted four zonal-level DACs, one each for northern, western, southern, and central districts.