The Delhi High Court has set aside orders of the Authorisation Committee and the Appellate Authority refusing permission for a proposed four-way swap kidney transplant involving four donor-recipient pairs. The Court held that Section 9(3A) of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994 does not restrict swap transplants to only two incompatible donor-recipient pairs and can be interpreted to permit multi-way exchanges.
The petition challenged the rejection of a proposed four-way kidney swap transplantation among four near-relative donor-recipient pairs. The authorities had denied approval on the ground that the statute only contemplates a two-way swap between a “first donor” and a “second donor.”
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav disagreed with this interpretation, observing that the expressions “first donor” and “second donor” are merely illustrative of the procedure and cannot be read as limiting the scope of the provision to only two pairs. The Court noted that the object of the legislation is to prevent organ trafficking and commercialisation, not to create artificial barriers to life-saving transplants.
The Court further noted that multi-pair kidney exchange programmes are internationally recognised and that both the Supreme Court and several States have taken steps towards facilitating broader swap transplantation mechanisms. Holding that multi-party swap transplantation is one of the best available options for patients struggling to find compatible donors, the Court directed the Authorisation Committee to reconsider the proposal in accordance with its interpretation of the law and after ensuring compliance with safeguards against commercial dealings.
