MADURAI
The father of a 13-year-old girl from Theni district moved the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday seeking a direction to the Dean, Government Rajaji Hospital, Madurai, to grant consent to perform a kidney transplant to save his daughter.
The petitioner, A. Sulthan from Periyakulam taluk, said his daughter had been suffering from chronic renal failure and receiving haemodialysis treatment at a private hospital in Madurai from January 2019. Doctors at the hospital suggested renal transplant for her and a relative was also said to have agreed to donate a kidney. ‘No objection’ and other requisite affidavits were executed as contemplated under law.
The petitioner said the Revenue department and the police had issued the certificates after verifying the relationship of the donor and recipient. A representation was then made to the Authorisation Committee for Renal Transplantation, GRH, Madurai.
A meeting was convened between the donor and the recipient before the committee, in which willingness to donate a kidney was expressed by the relative. However, the representation made on April 2, 2019, was kept pending by the committee.
It is said that the petitioner was orally informed that since the donor was not a close relative, he had to get a consent from the Authorisation Committee in Chennai. This defeated the very purpose of establishing Authorisation Committees in Madurai and Coimbatore, the petitioner said.
Moreover, it would not be safe for his daughter to travel to Chennai to get the consent. With her condition worsening day by day, the petitioner sought a direction to grant permission to perform the surgery to save his daughter.
Justice G. R. Swaminathan observed that the Authorisation Committee for Renal Transplantation, Madurai, had the jurisdiction to decide the issue. “The committee will have to take a call and decide the matter in two weeks’ time,” the court said.