Laws in place for organ transplants: Govt

Government has enacted various laws based on which people, who are dying prematurely due to heart, liver and kidney diseases, can be saved by timely transplantation of organs donated by others, Health and Family Welfare Minister J P Nadda told Rajya Sabha today.
Speaking on measures taken by the ministry to promote organ donation, he said it has enacted Transplantation of Human Organ (Amendment) Act 2011, which came into force in January last year and also notified the Transplantation of Human Organ and Tissue Rules 2014, in March 2014 for promoting donation from deceased donors, he said replying to a question on organ transplantation.

He said that the government has approved the National Organ Transplant Programme which makes a provision of financial assistance for immunosuppressant therapy to 100 needy and poor transplant recipients in government hospital every year.
"Such services are available at affordable rates at Central government hospitals having facilities for organ transplantation. But states too have to play leading role in this area," he said.
Replying to another question on the health of women before pregnancy, the Minister said that around 42.2 per cent of such women in the country are underweight before pregnancy, as per the estimates of 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'.