‘Rich are privileged recipients, the poor suffer’

Pointing out that the organ harvesting and registry must be made more transparent, Dr GR Ravindranath, general secretary, DASE said, “What is happening right now is that only the rich are recipients of the organ transplant programme, while it is the poor who are the donors and remain so.” He said that there should be more transparency in the programme to ensure that the poor too benefit from this initiative of organ donation. “The demand and supply gap is already very big and if there are illegalities or flouting of norms, only the poor will suffer,” he added.

A senior city surgeon also pointed out to reports that a government doctor had accompanied the patient in the air ambulance while being shifted to Chennai, even after the family opted to shift Karthik against medical advise. “Once a patient is going out of your hospital against your advice, how do you send a government doctor to escort the patient all the way to Chennai? He is out of your hospital of his/family’s own will and they have refused your treatment. After refusing the treatment, how do you continue it?” he asked, and sought an explanation from the Thanjavur Medical College and Hospital.