Norms tweaked for organ donation, age cap dropped, no registration fee

New Delhi, February 16

The Health Ministry has done away with the existing age ceiling of 65 years for people wanting to receive organs from deceased donors, besides removing the need for people to register for organs in their own state of domicile. The Centre notified the new rules from today.

The changes also include removal of registration fee for anyone intending to register for an organ.

Rules notified

• A citizen can now register for organ donation in any state
• A unique ID will be issued to avoid duplication

Prior to today, the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation guidelines said people above 65 years of age cannot receive organs.

“The age cap has been dropped in line with the right to health for everyone,” an official source said.

Further, several states had a provision whereby a person intending to get an organ had to compulsorily register in the state of domicile.

“Now, anyone can register anywhere. A unique ID will be generated and given upon registration. There will be no duplication as the unique ID will prevent the same,” said ministry officials.

They added that some states such as Gujarat had a policy whereby one had to be a Gujarati to get the organ in the state. “The domicile rigidity has also been removed,” officials said. They added that Kerala and some other states were charging organ registration fee which has been dropped too. The Centre is now engaged with states to develop a ‘one nation, one organ’ policy in line with several court rulings that have directed the government to evolve uniform organ donation guidelines across India.

The first consultation with the states has been held but the policy is a work in progress. The three changes made by the Centre however will apply from today in case of organs from deceased donors. Importantly, 837 deceased organ transplants happened in 2013 with the numbers rising to 2,765 in 2022. Living organ transplants also rose from 3,153 in 2013 to 12,791 in 2022.