Court Slams Panel Over Kid's Transplant Denial

The Madras High Court has rebuked the Tamil Nadu organ transplant authorisation committee (Transtan) for denying permission for a minor Bangladeshi boy's kidney transplant surgery in Chennai. Justice G R Swaminathan stated that the committee's refusal, which questioned the donor mother's relationship with the child's father despite a marriage certificate, amounted to stigmatizing the minor.

The court set aside the committee's order, deeming it a misdirection in law and a lack of applied thought. The judge mandated that the committee grant permission for the mother to donate a kidney to her son immediately. The boy, Atonu Saha, an Atonu Saha, a Bangladeshi national, is undergoing dialysis in Chennai for end-stage renal chronic kidney disease and requires a transplant.

His parents, citizens of Bangladesh, had traveled to Chennai for better medical facilities. After obtaining necessary certificates, the boy's mother came forward as a donor. Despite compatibility tests, the committee rejected the application due to a perceived lack of established spousal relationship, stemming from miscommunication during an inquiry conducted with an interpreter.