The Bombay High Court, in April, directed the state government to publicise the rules of organ donation to encourage awareness.
A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice M S Sanklecha said, "It will be ideal if the state government, on the official website of the appropriate department, makes all the details about the provisions of the said Act and the said Rules of 2014 available in Marathi and also incorporates frequently asked questions (FAQ). Unless there is awareness about the provisions of the Act and its subsequent rules, proper implementation of the Act will not be possible."
The bench also said that, "Awareness can even be brought about through traditional ways like publishing articles in newspapers, conducting programmes on FM Radio and so on." The court also said that in six weeks' time, the state should develop and commission a centralised data software to deal with organ donation, retrieval, and transplant cases. The software will take care of applications for approval, curb illegalities, and ensure transparency.
The direction was made during the hearing of its earlier directions, where the court asked the state to appoint an authorisation committee in every hospital to undertake organ transplant procedures swiftly. However, such committees have not been formed yet. The state told the court that hospitals with less than 25 transplants in a year had not set up a committee as these setups are not in a position to afford such a designation. The state further added how creation of ad hoc posts does not help; such posts remain vacant due to lack of applications.
Based on data provided by the state regarding the Mumbai and Pune authorisation centres, the court said, since the authorisation committee in Mumbai has received 321 cases for approval in 2018 and the Pune committee has received 347 cases, the state must consider having a full-time post of assistant professor in medicine, who would be part of the Mumbai and Pune authorisation committees.