Uploaded data of eye donation seekers: Maha govt to HC

The Maharashtra government today informed the Bombay High Court that in keeping with its earlier directive it has started uploading the data of those seeking eye donation, on government website.
The state also informed the HC that like Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), 15 more civic bodies in the state have started including a column for eye donation in the death certificate.
A bench of justices Abhay Oka and A K Menon asked the state government to inform what steps had been taken by 11 municipal corporations and councils in the state to include a column in the death certificate.
The inclusion of the column in the certificate gives an option to the kin of the deceased to voluntarily donate the corneas to eye banks, which can be of use for the needy.

The High Court had earlier directed the state government to upload by January 2015 the data on government website about waiting list of recipients seeking eye donations, to facilitate better transparency in the transplant process.
The court gave the direction while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking change in Section 6 of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act to facilitate retrieval of corneas in medico-legal cases without any legal hassles.
Advocate Mihir Desai for the petitioner argued that the objective of the Transplant Act is to ensure transparency in the entire procedure and thus even if the authority compiles the data district-wise but does not upload the data in public domain then the purpose would not be served.

The government, on June 26, 2013, had issued directions to BMC and also to other city corporations and councils, to include a column in the death certificate and application forms, which will make people consider giving their consent to donate their eyes to the banks.