Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994

Every few weeks a Mumbai hospital announces that a family has agreed to donate the organs of a young accident victim, and a stranger waiting on a transplant list gets a chance to live. The same city also produces news of kidney rackets in which poor people are paid to give up an organ. The law has to do two opposite things: make genuine donation easy and make commercial trade in organs impossible. The Transplantation of Human Organs Act of 1994 is that law, and this topic walks through who may donate, who may receive, who must approve, and what happens to those who break the rules.

In two minutes

The Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act 1994 allows removal of organs and tissues only for therapeutic purposes, only with valid authority from the donor or those empowered to give it, only in registered hospitals, and it punishes commercial dealing in organs with imprisonment of five to ten years.

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