Punjab and Haryana High Court’s notice to Centre over non-functional organ transplant OT at PGIMER

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued notice of motion to the Union of India on a PIL filed by city lawyer seeking urgent judicial intervention to ensure functional operation theatre for organ transplant at PGIMER in Chandigarh.

In his petition placed before the bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Anil Kshetarpal, Ranjan Lakhanpal outlined alarming statistics to demonstrate the inadequacies in the organ transplant sector across India. Among other things, he stated fewer than 5,000 kidney transplants were conducted annually against an estimated need of 1.75 lakh. Similarly, around 1,000 liver transplants took place every year, while over 1 lakh patients succumbed to liver diseases.

Lakhanpal contended the number for heart and lung transplants was equally concerning. Only 10, 000 heart transplant were performed, whereas requirement was of 50,000. Describing himself as a recipient of organ transplant, he added most people suffering from organs failure in India were not lucky enough to get organ transplantation. Most of them died waiting for someone to donate the organ they required.

“The government cannot just sleep over the matter. Although efforts are being made by government, the same are just not enough. The problem has been sorted out to a great extent in states like Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and other countries of the world. But Punjab, Haryana, UT Chandigarh and other part of the country have lagged behind to a great extent he added.

In the petition filed through Molly A Lakhanpal, Kanishk Lakhanpal and Ashu Kaushik, the petitioner asserted there were three operation theatres (OTs) in the nephrology department, with four faculty members, 10 senior residents, two junior residents, and a total of 16 doctors along with approximately 50 staff nurses. Their services had remained largely unutilised as the OTs had been closed for nearly four years, resulting in a significant waste of public funds.

He added the operation theatres were shut down in August 2021 and remained closed due to a malfunction in the department’s air conditioning system. The closure was preventing kidney transplant surgeries for years, and tragically, many patients had died due to the unavailability of these facilities. Despite repeated appeals, action was not taken. Besides, ongoing construction work near the operation theatres was causing constant hammering and noise, further disturbing patients admitted for various ailments.

“Nobody knows when the construction/reconstruction will be completed. Nobody knows as to how many people where to die because of non-availability of the operation theatres. The matter is of most urgent nature as it is the human life which is involved. If the institute does not have the capacity to get the construction / reconstruction done immediately, it is their bounding duty to provide alternative arrangements so that operations of transplantation continue and lives saved,” he submitted.

Lakhanpal added the operation rate had reduced from 78 in 2022 to only 17 this year. The number would continue to shrink if something was not done immediately to improve the situation.