The Lok Sabha of Indian Parliament on 12 August 2011 approved the Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Bill, 2011. The bill entails stringent punishment for those involved in organ trade. The amended bill will also make swapping of vital organs between willing but incompatible donors legal. Henceforth, when a donor’s organ is not compatible with his own relative but is suitable for the other, the two families (unknown to each other) can go ahead and exchange the organs.
At present, rules restrict organ transplant to between blood relatives (father, mother, daughter, son, sister and brother) and between married couples. The bill will help in curbing the country’s illegal organ trade. The bill also allows uncles and aunts and grandparents to donate their organs with the approval of authorization committee.
After the Lok Sabha's assent the amended bill needs to be passed by the Rajya Sabha. The bill increases punishment from five to 10 years of imprisonment for persons involved in illegal commercial dealings and the fine from 10000-20000 rupees to a prohibitive range of 20 lakh rupees-1 crore rupees. The objectives of the Bill are increasing the organ and tissue availability, expanding the definition of near relatives, curbing illegal and commercial dealings through stiffer penalties and allowing swap donation and putting in place an organ removal and storage network as well as national registry of donors.
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