3Authority for removal of human organs or tissues or both

¹[3. Authority for removal of ¹[human organs or tissues or both].-- (1) Any donor may, in such manner and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed, authorise the removal, before his death, of any ²[human organ or tissue or both] of his body for therapeutic purposes.

³[(1A) For the purpose of removal, storage or transplantation of such human organs or tissues or both, as may be prescribed, it shall be the duty of the registered medical practitioner working in a hospital, in consultation with transplant co-ordinator, if such transplant co-ordinator is available,--

(i) to ascertain from the person admitted to the Intensive Care Unit or from his near relative that such person had authorised at any time before his death the removal of any human organ or tissue or both of his body under sub-section (2), then the hospital shall proceed to obtain the documentation for such authorisation;

(ii) where no such authority as referred to in sub-section (2) was made by such person, to make aware to that person or near relative for option to authorise or decline for donation of human organs or tissues or both;

(iii) to require the hospital to inform in writing to the Human Organ Removal Centre for removal, storage or transplantation of human organs or tissues or both of the donor identified in clauses (i) and (ii) in such manner as may be prescribed.

(1B) The duties mentioned under clauses (i) to (iii) of sub-section (1A) from such date, as may be prescribed, shall also apply in the case of a registered medical practitioner working in an Intensive Care Unit in a hospital which is not registered under this Act for the purpose of removal, storage or transplantation of human organs or tissues or both.]

(2) If any donor had, in writing and in the presence of two or more witnesses (at least one of whom is a near relative of such person), unequivocally authorised at any time before his death, the removal of any human organ of his body, after his death, for therapeutic purposes, the person lawfully in possession of the dead body of the donor shall, unless he has any reason to believe that the donor had subsequently revoked the authority aforesaid, grant to a registered medical practitioner all reasonable facilities for the removal, for therapeutic purposes, of that ²[human organ or tissue or both] from the dead body of the donor.

(3) Where no such authority as is referred to in sub-section (2), was made by any person before his death but no objection was also expressed by such person to any of his ¹[human organs or tissues or both] being used after his death for therapeutic purposes, the person lawfully in possession of the dead body of such person may, unless he has reason to believe that any near relative of the deceased person has objection to any of the deceased persons ¹[human organs or tissues or both] being used for therapeutic purposes, authorise the removal of any ²[human organ or tissue or both] of the deceased person for its use for therapeutic purposes.

(4) The authority given under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) or, as the case may be, sub-section (3) shall be sufficient warrant for the removal, for therapeutic purposes, of the ²[human organ or tissue or both]; but no such removal shall be made by any person other than the registered medical practitioner:

³[Provided that a technician possessing such qualifications and experience, as may be prescribed, may enucleate a cornea.]

(5) Where any ²[human organ or tissue or both] is to be removed from the body of a deceased person, the registered medical practitioner shall satisfy himself, before such removal, by a personal examination of the body from which any ²[human organ or tissue or both] is to be removed, that life is extinct in such body or, where it appears to be a case of brain-stem death, that such death has been certified under sub-section (6).

(6) Where any ²[human organ or tissue or both] is to be removed from the body of a person in the event of his brain-stem death, no such removal shall be undertaken unless such death is certified, in such form and in such manner and on satisfaction of such conditions and requirements as may be prescribed, by a Board of medical experts consisting of the following, namely:--

(i) the registered medical practitioner in charge of the hospital in which brain-stem death has occurred;

(ii) an independent registered medical practitioner, being a specialist, to be nominated by the registered medical practitioner specified in clause (i), from the panel of names approved by the Appropriate Authority;

(iii) a neurologist or a neurosurgeon to be nominated by the registered medical practitioner specified in clause (i), from the panel of names approved by the Appropriate Authority:⁴***

⁵[Provided that where a neurologist or a neurosurgeon is not available, the registered medical practitioner may nominate an independent registered medical practitioner, being a surgeon or a physician and an anaesthetist or intensivist subject to the condition that they are not members of the transplantation team for the concerned recipient and to such conditions as may be prescribed;]

(iv) the registered medical practitioner treating the person whose brain-stem death has occurred.

(7) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (3), where brain-stem death of any person, less than eighteen years of age, occurs and is certified under sub-section (6), any of the parents of the deceased person may give authority, in such form and in such manner as may be prescribed, for the removal of any ⁶[human organ or tissue or both] from the body of the deceased person.]