Delhi High Court Gives a Seven-day Deadline for Government on Liver Transplant Plea

The central government has been given a deadline of seven days by the Delhi High Court to decide on the plea of a 62-year old woman who has challenged the decision of a hospital not to accept a liver from a prospective donor.

Passing the order, Justice Kailash Gambhir directed the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) to consider the appeal filed by Urmila Anand, of Agra, in the light of the high court's earlier judgment holding that a request for donation of an organ could be considered on the basis of the love and affection between the donor and recipient.

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Anand's lawyer told the court that Anand, suffering from chronic liver disease, has been undergoing treatment at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, and was advised to undergo immediate liver transplant.

According to Anand, Gulab Devi, who has been associated with her family for last 30 years, had given consent to donate her partial liver after her blood group matched that of Anand's.

However, the authorisation committee of the hospital, which examines cases of organ donation by distant relatives, had rejected their request on the ground that the donation involved commercial transaction.

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Challenging the order, the patient has filed an appeal before the DGHS but no decision was taken so far and finally she approached the high court.

It was also submitted by Anand's lawyer that the organ donation by Gulab Devi was voluntary and without any due pressure, and is out of only love and affection for each other for the last 30 years.

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The petition stated that the blood group of Anand's children (two daughters and a son) did not match with the patient's blood group but Gulab Devi's blood group matched.

About Transplantation
Since the early times, the novel idea of transplanting tissues and other body parts from one organism to the other has captured the imagination of successive generations.

Anand's lawyer argued that the hospital rejected the request of donation on the premises that there was financial disparity between both women and ignored their bonding for 30 years and no objection certificates (NOC) issued by various authorities, including Uttar Pradesh's Organ Transplantation Committee, the District Authorisation Committee of Agra besides letters from the local MP and mayor.

Source-IANS