CP to ensure speedy inquest in cadaver donation cases

NAGPUR: In view of the increase in cases of cadaver or brain dead organ donations, commissioner of police KK Pathak has offered to sensitize police staff at very police stations for immediately attending to any call from a hospital for conducting an inquest. This is needed in medico-legal cases (MLC) where the family of the deceased has agreed to donate organs.He has also agreed to extend all support required for creating a green corridor if the transplant and retrieval of an organ/organs are taking place at different hospitals.
An expert member of the Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee (ZTCC), Dr Ravi Wankhede, and the medical director of the Orange City Hospital and Research Institute (OCHRI), Dr Anup Marar, met Pathak on March 16 to explain the importance of conducting an inquest at the earliest in organ donation cases. They explained that this way doctors can expedite the process of organ retrieval which in turn can hasten the process of transplant.
Pathak not only agreed to immediately take steps for educating the police staff about the standard practice followed in organ donation procedure but also pledged to donate his organ posthumously. He also assured to use section 174 of Indian CRPC when the cause of the donor’s death is confirmed by the treating doctor and relatives have no objection, so that the body is handed over for post-mortem without unnecessary delay.
The city police will also organize sensitization workshops for all officials in phase manner. Dr Wankhede, who as a ZTCC member and a member of the Mohan Foundation’s Nagpur branch is already conducting awareness programmes at various levels for masses, students etc, will be also holding workshops for police personnel.
Since most brain-dead patients are accident victims, they automatically become MLC. But due to lack of awareness among general public, doctors and also police, hospitals conducting transplants have been experiencing delay or sometimes even no response from the police. Most calls are generally made at odd-hours in the night while the team generally prepares for the transplant the next morning. “I am very happy that the police commissioner instantly agreed to support the cause and has begun the process of sensitizing police personnel,” said Dr Wankhede.
However, in all metros as well as most big cities, the city police commissioners have already issued letters to all police stations in this regard. In fact, the concept of creating a green corridor for transport of donor patient from a treating hospital to transplant hospital or transport of organs from one hospital to the other has also been there for over past five years or more.
Dr Marar told TOI that the city has had six cadaver organ donations and transplants in the past two years. Nine persons were donated kidneys and ten persons who were suffering from corneal blindness got their vision restored. “OCHRI has recently started a skin bank. Now, we can also retrieve skin from donors for use in treatment of burn patients. I am sure with increasing awareness Nagpur will also soon come on the map of organ transplanting cities,” he said.
Dr Wankhede said he was happy that some prominent citizens have pledged organ donation with Mohan Foundation, which will serve as a very good motivation to others.
Prominent persons who have pledged to donate organs
Dr & Mrs Dinesh Biyani, Monika Sumra (Indian Women's Cricket team wicket keeper), Dr Rajaram Powar (former dean of GMCH, Nagpur), MJ Jawanjar, CEO, Berar Finance Ltd, KK Pathak CP, Nagpur, Anup Kumar Singh, Joint CP, Nagpur, Dr Mrs Damle, Dr Jaspal and Dr Indu Arneja, Gulab Mahant, Sharad Paliwal, Rina Sinha, CEO NIIT, Justice (Retd) Shrisen and Sampada Dongaonkar
Green corridor for organ transportation
For uninterrupted transport of organs or donor person from one hospital to other within a stipulated time, the city police creates a condition in which all the traffic signals of the route are kept green so that the transporting vehicle doesn’t have to stop any where. It may need an escort vehicle of police.
“The police should treat the organ as a VIP person, as big as the Prime Minister, and arrange for a convoy movement of the team coming to harvest the organ back to the hospital where the transplant is to be done,” said Dr Sanjay Kolte, a city transplant surgeon.
GOING BY THE NORMS
* In medico-legal cases (MLC), hospital is required to send a request to nearest police station for an inquest
* A copy of the request is also sent to a forensic expert (especially doctor conducting post-mortem). He is the authority to permit organ donation after he gets a report about normal function of the organs received
* The expert has to ensure that by retrieving organs or tissues, the declaration of cause of death is not jeopardized
* Medical report prepared at the time of retrieval is prepared by the surgeon and put on record in post-mortem notes by forensic experts