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Fearing backlash, Govt rethinks proposal for default cornea donation for all in-hospital deaths

“Now, alternative mechanisms are being looked into such as consent being presumed in cases where people have registered as donors on the national portal. People have to register with their Aadhaar, so technically they have already given their consent,” the official said.

Cornea donation, National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation, NOTTO, eye surgery, Indian express news, current affairs

“While a complete opt-out method may be difficult to implement, easing some of the norms will help in increasing cornea donations. And these regulations may later be adopted for other organs as well if it works well for corneas,” the official said.

Fearing pushback, the country’s apex organ transplant regulator is looking at alternative mechanisms to the opt-out method being examined earlier for cornea donation, under which those who die at hospitals would be presumed to be a donor unless stated otherwise, according to officials in know of the matter.

Now, the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) is looking at whether consent can be presumed at least for those who have already signed up as donors on its new Aadhaar-linked national registry.

At the moment, even if a person registers on India’s organ donor registry, it is not legally binding, and hospitals have to seek consent from family members for any organ donation, including cornea.

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“There were discussions underway to see how to increase cornea donation and what provisions in the law would need to be changed. The opt-out method was suggested by experts, but there is likely to be a pushback. People are very sensitive about donating their cornea, sometimes even more than other organs,” said an official.

“Now, alternative mechanisms are being looked into such as consent being presumed in cases where people have registered as donors on the national portal. People have to register with their Aadhaar, so technically they have already given their consent,” the official said.

While there has been an organ donation registry in the country for nearly a decade, a person had to carry the registration card to let hospitals know their wish. Last year, the government launched an Aadhaar-linked registry to create a verifiable database that even hospitals can access to check if a patient is a registered donor. More than 2 lakh people have registered as organ donors on this new portal — nearly 52% of them are men, and nearly 44% are aged between 30 years and 45 years.

But even if a person registered on the national organ donation registry, the Human Organ and Tissue Transplantation Act would need to be amended to allow donations without the requirement of the family’s consent.

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The official said that several changes to the law are being looked into by a group of experts, including from the legal domain.

The move is aimed at increasing the availability to corneas or the dome-shaped front layer of the eye.

Anonna Dutt

Anonna Dutt is a Principal Correspondent who writes primarily on health at the Indian Express. She reports on myriad topics ranging from the growing burden of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension to the problems with pervasive infectious conditions. She reported on the government’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic and closely followed the vaccination programme. Her stories have resulted in the city government investing in high-end tests for the poor and acknowledging errors in their official reports. Dutt also takes a keen interest in the country’s space programme and has written on key missions like Chandrayaan 2 and 3, Aditya L1, and Gaganyaan. She was among the first batch of eleven media fellows with RBM Partnership to End Malaria. She was also selected to participate in the short-term programme on early childhood reporting at Columbia University’s Dart Centre. Dutt has a Bachelor’s Degree from the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune and a PG Diploma from the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. She started her reporting career with the Hindustan Times. When not at work, she tries to appease the Duolingo owl with her French skills and sometimes takes to the dance floor. ... Read More

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