This panel will scrutinise applications involving foreigners and overseas Indians, in addition to monitoring district-level committees.
Published Sep 11, 2025 | 4:26 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 11, 2025 | 4:26 PM
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Synopsis: Tamil Nadu has restructured its organ donation Authorisation Committees at state and district levels to enhance oversight, prompted by kidney trade complaints. The move, under the 1994 Transplantation Act, aims to ensure ethical compliance and transparency. New committees, led by medical college deans, will verify donor-recipient ties, prevent coercion, and mandate independent lab testing, with NGOs potentially aiding counselling.
Tamil Nadu has reconstituted the Authorisation Committees that approve living donor organ donations and transplants at both state and district levels, a move prompted by repeated complaints of the kidney trade and concerns that donations may be made under pressure.
The decision, notified through a government order dated 8 September, was issued under the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994, and the rules framed in 2014.
It was signed by Health and Family Welfare Principal Secretary P Senthilkumar. Officials said the restructuring is intended to ensure ethical compliance, increase transparency, and rebuild public confidence in the state’s transplantation framework.
At the state level, the Authorisation Committee will be chaired by the Director of Medical Education and Research, Chennai. Members will include the Deans of Stanley and Kilpauk Medical Colleges, senior police officers, a woman doctor nominated by the Indian Medical Association, and officials from the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services.
This panel will scrutinise applications involving foreign nationals and out-of-state Indians, in addition to monitoring district-level committees.
Four regional committees have been formed at Madras Medical College (north), Thanjavur Medical College (central), Coimbatore Medical College (west), and Madurai Medical College (south).
These will be led by the Deans of the respective medical colleges and will include senior doctors, district administrators, police officers, and IMA-nominated women doctors.
Their role is to verify donor–recipient relationships, ensure the authenticity of documents, and rule out coercion. In cases involving unrelated donors, the committees will conduct additional checks with support from police and revenue officials.
Authorised hospitals are required to confirm the donor’s and recipient’s health status, identity, and address. They must also submit monthly reports on transplant applications and outcomes.
To support counselling, reputed non-governmental organisations may be empanelled to advise donors and recipients on medical, legal, and psychological aspects of organ transplantation. Until then, the committee chairpersons will mobilise their own counselling teams.
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The committees are tasked with evaluating both the mental and physical preparedness of donors. Human Leukocyte Antigen matching must be performed by laboratories not attached to the hospitals where surgeries take place.
The Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services has been asked to empanel approved labs; until then, labs empanelled under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme may carry out the tests.
A processing fee of ₹2,000 has been fixed for each application, half of which will go to the state treasury and the rest used to meet administrative expenses of the committees.
Officials emphasised that the revamped structure seeks to balance urgent medical needs with strong safeguards against exploitation, ensuring that Tamil Nadu’s organ transplantation system remains transparent, accountable, and humane.
(Edited by Amit Vasudev)
