the goan I network
PANAJI
Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Friday cracked the whip on health Secretary Ashok Kumar for having unilaterally permitted Manipal Hospital to harvest the organs of a brain dead patient on April 7.
Rane said that the health secretary acted against the law in allowing the organs to be transported to Mumbai, without consulting the organ transplant committee of the state government.
“Health secretary had no power to give unilaterally permission to Manipal Hospital for organ transplant. His decision bypassed the committee and the health minister. His role will be investigated by me and the committee. Bureaucracy has to remain limited within the operational aspects. This was absolutely illegal. Bureaucracy cannot cross rules and barriers set. Organ transplant cannot be permitted through one phone call,” Rane stated.
The Health Minister further sought to point out that GMC is the only recognized facility to harvest organs and said that the donor patient could have been shifted to GMC for organ harvesting and transplant as per law.
Miffed at the procedural violation, Health Minister Rane has declared that so long as he remains in office, GMC will be the only hospital in Goa with permission to carry out organ transplants.
“I am rejecting the file for Manipal Hospital for organ transplant permission. In interest of all organ transplant rackets, no other hospitals will be granted permission. All applications will be rejected,” he said. The Health Minister disclosed that he has given GMC Dean Dr Pradeep Naik time of 30 days to comply with all approvals and permissions so that GMC becomes sole organ transplant facility in Goa. “What was done was not done as per law. Once I get the enquiry report, I will take due action against al those responsible for this glaring lapse,” he has warned.
