Doctors to be trained on transplant laws

MUMBAI: Senior officials of hospitals that conduct organ transplant procedures will now have to undergo training sessions for orientation of Transplantation of Human

MUMBAI: Senior officials of hospitals that conduct organ transplant procedures will now have to undergo training sessions for orientation of Transplantation of Human Organ Act (TAHO) 1994. The decision was taken during a high-level meeting, chaired by CM Devendra Fadnavis, senior health officials and doctors at Mantralaya on Monday.

HT Image

The state government has now formed a 16-member committee, headed by Dr Deepak Sawant, Health Minister of the state, to prepare a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) under the TAHO Act. Last week, Sawant had said that the state needs a separate SOP as a line of defence against the loopholes brought to light during investigations of the controversial kidney scam at LH Hiranandani Hospital. A simplified version of the SOPs is what was demanded by Fadnavis, sources revealed.

Dr Mohan Jadhav, director, Directorate of Health Services who attended the meeting has been given the responsibility of preparing a checklist of for all the procedures to be followed for an organ transplant procedure. DHS is also supposed to coordinate with Directorate of Medical Education through a mailing system with standard format, consisting details of donors and recipients.

Jadhav also pointed out the lack of expertise to pinpoint forged documents attested by local advocates after which the committee decided that from now on, the documents will be verified by the magistrate to avoid malpractices. The decision to train doctors in the law is significant because some of the accused in the kidney scam have said that they did not know the law.