'Organ Transplant Act needs to be rectified'

PTI / Dec 11, 2005, 11:32 IST

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Doctors say Organ Transplant Act will first have to be rectified before the face transplant surgery can be performed.

'Organ Transplant Act needs to be rectified'

NEW DELHI: What is in a face? Even as the world debates this issue, doctors say the decade-old Organ Transplant Act will first have to be rectified before the face transplant surgery can be performed.
Technically, the Indian micro surgeons are competent enough to perform this surgery, and although the present transplant laws allow cadaveric transplantation (organ retrieval from a brain dead but beating heart donor), lot of issues are unresolved, says Dr Sunil Choudhary, Plastic Surgeon, Max Healthcare.
The Transplantation of Human Organs Bill, 1994 redefines death to include the concept of brain stem death making retrieval of organs possible after proper consent.
It permits transplantation of various cadaveric organs including the kidneys...

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The problem lies in the fact that the Act could form the basis for withdrawing support to brain dead donor of facial transplants although this has not been stated explicitly, says Dr Choudhary, trained in microsurgery from UK and New Zealand.
As euthanasia (mercy killing) is illegal in India, such a brain dead patient would still have to be nursed till he or she is alive. This in itself will be prohibitive due to the heavy costs involved, he says.

There are religious issues as well. In India it is highly unlikely that relatives of such a brain dead patient would
consent to removal of the whole or part of face as the same would result in a horrendous disfigurement, he adds.
"There is need to set up an ethical committee which would go into all these issues and give its recommendations," says Dr Rashmi Taneja, Cosmetic Surgeon, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital...
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"The most important thing for such an operation is a national database of donors, which is lacking in India," says Dr Taneja.
"The US and other western countries have a national network wherein information about donors is put on a bulletin which can be assessed by everyone. But in India, in the absence of such a network, 99 per cent of transplants are from living donors," says Dr Taneja.
Says Dr Choudhary, "while on paper such a surgery is possible, a panel of experts will have to sit and frame guidelines to make laws water-tight so that this is not commercialised like kidney racket."
"There are thousands of burns patients in India who are living with horrendous facial disfigurements. Then there are victims of terrorism wherein they have suffered severe gunshot or explosive injuries to their faces. These patients will be ideal candidates and could stand to benefit from the face transplant," he says.
Replantation of the patient's owns face and hand are already being done here, he says.

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