The Delhi High Court has directed the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) to record the body mass index (BMI) of the minor, who want to donate his liver to his ailing father, again on November 6. The Court has directed that if the petitioner’s BMI is found to be more than 18, the same has to be forwarded to the Appropriate Authority. The next hearing will be November 8.

The single-judge bench of Justice Rekha Palli also directed the Delhi Government to expeditiously decide on the petitioner’s representation afresh, upon receiving the BMI from ILBS.

Advocate Siddharth Panda, appearing for ILBS, informed the court that it had measured the BMI of the petitioner and it was found that his BMI was lower than the acceptable threshold.

At the previous hearing, the court had directed the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) to re-record the Body Mass Index (BMI) and had made it clear that it will not interfere and pass directions for liver donation until the petitioner reaches the threshold BMI.

According to the petition, the petitioner’s father is suffering from advance stage of liver failure. The petitioner’s father is undergoing treatment at ILBS and is in urgent need of a liver transplant.

The petition avers, several family members of the petitioner’s family have applied for the donation of their liver, including his mother, elder brother, aunt and uncle, but due to certain medical complications, the applications could not be accepted.

The petition further avers, upon testing it was found that, the petitioner could donate a part of his liver to his father and hence, on August 27, 2021, the petitioner applied to the Authorization Committee, for the permission to donate a part of his liver, to his father. On August 28, 2021 the said application was rejected, stating, the petitioner was a minor. The petitioner’s age on the date of refusal was 17 years, 8 months and 19 days.

According to the petition, in Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act 1994, there is no absolute bar on donation of Human Organ or Tissue by a minor. Rule 5(3)(g) of Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules 2014, states, living organ or tissue donation by minor is not permitted, except medical grounds to be recommended in detail, with justification and prior approval of competent authority.

The petition was filed and argued by Advocate Prasoon Kumar.

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) to re-record the Body Mass Index (BMI) of the minor who is willing to donate his liver to his ailing father and made it clear that it will not interfere and pass directions for liver donation until the petitioner reaches the threshold BMI.

Justice Rekha Palli was hearing a plea filed by the minor seeking setting aside of the order dated August 28, 2021, passed by Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) and Authorization Committee as per Section 13(1) of Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act 1994, whereby, the petitioner had been prohibited to donate a part of his liver, to his ailing father.

The Medical Superintendent of ILBS submitted that all the test results of the petitioner were within specified parameters, except for his BMI, which was 17.8 and the said BMI was 0.2 below the permissible threshold.

At this point, Justice Palli asked if the petitioner can be permitted, as the BMI is only 0.2 below the threshold. The ILBS Medical Superintendent replied by stating the operating surgeon had opined that it was not advisable for the petitioner to undergo a surgery for removal of 65% of the petitioner’s liver. He added that once the petitioner attains a BMI of 18, the surgery can be performed.

At the previous hearing, the court had directed the Medical Superintendent of ILBS to remain present on the next date of hearing, whilst directing ILBS to file reports of all tests conducted by the Hospital while setting out the tests that are a part of the checklist for liver donation and the ones additionally conducted by ILBS.

According to the petition, the petitioner’s father is suffering from advance stage of liver failure. The petitioner’s father is undergoing treatment at ILBS and is in urgent need of a liver transplant.

The petition avers, several family members of the petitioner’s family have applied for the donation of their liver, including his mother, elder brother, aunt and uncle, but due to certain medical complications, the applications could not be accepted.

The petition further avers, upon testing it was found that, the petitioner could donate a part of his liver to his father and hence, on August 27, 2021, the petitioner applied to the Authorization Committee, for the permission to donate a part of his liver, to his father. On August 28, 2021 the said application was rejected, stating, the petitioner was a minor. The petitioner’s age on the date of refusal was 17 years, 8 months and 19 days.

According to the petition, in Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act 1994, there is no absolute bar on donation of Human Organ or Tissue by a minor. Rule 5(3)(g) of Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules 2014, states, living organ or tissue donation by minor is not permitted, except medical grounds to be recommended in detail, with justification and prior approval of competent authority.

The petition was filed and argued by Advocate Prasoon Kumar and has been listed for further arguments on October 29.

The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) to submit all the mandatory tests that have to be conducted to assess the feasibility of donation of liver by a minor petitioner before the Appropriate Authority by today.

A Single-Judge Bench of Justice Rekha Palli was pleased to pass these directions in a plea seeking setting aside the order dated August 28, 2021, passed by ILBS and Authorization Committee as per Section 13(1) of Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act 1994, whereby, the petitioner had been prohibited to donate a part of his liver to his ailing father. Advocate Naushad Ahmed Khan, appearing for the Delhi government, submitted that they had not received the test reports of the petitioner.

Advocate Sidharth Panda, appearing for ILBS, stated that there were fluctuations in the Cancer Antigen Test of the petitioner and certain tests were contingent on the results of other tests, due to which delay was being caused. On the previous day, the court had directed the Appropriate Authority to reconsider the petitioner’s representation within 2 days.

According to the petition, the petitioner’s father is suffering from advance stage of liver failure. The petitioner’s father is undergoing treatment at ILBS and is in urgent need of a liver transplant.

The petition avers several family members of the petitioner’s family have applied for the donation of their liver, including his mother, elder brother, aunt and uncle, but due to certain medical complications, the applications could not be accepted.

The petition further avers, upon testing it was found that, the petitioner could donate a part of his liver to his father and hence, on August 27, 2021, the petitioner applied to the Authorization Committee, for the permission to donate a part of his liver, to his father. On August 28, 2021 the said application was rejected, stating the petitioner was a minor. The petitioner’s age on the date of refusal was 17 years, 8 months and 19 days.

According to the petition, in Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act 1994, there is no absolute bar on donation of Human Organ or Tissue by a minor. Rule 5(3)(g) of Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules 2014, states, living organ or tissue donation by minor is not permitted, except medical grounds to be recommended in detail, with justification and prior approval of competent authority.

The petition was filed and argued by Advocate Prasoon Kumar and has been listed for further arguments on October 25.

The Delhi High Court on Monday set aside the order passed by the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), prohibiting a minor from donating a part of his liver to his ailing father and instead, directed the Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, to consider the application within 2 days, keeping in view the grave medical emergency faced by the petitioner’s father and the fact that the petitioner is about to be 18 years of age within 2 months.

A Single-Judge Bench of Justice Rekha Palli came to this conclusion on the basis of Rule 5 (3) (g) of Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules, 2014:

“Living organ or tissue donation by minors shall not be permitted except on exceptional medical grounds to be recorded in detail with full justification and with prior approval of the Appropriate Authority and the State Government concerned.”

Clear case of exceptional medical circumstance: Delhi High Court

The Court held that this was a clear case of exceptional medical circumstance, as the petitioner’s father needed liver transplant urgently and alternate donation was not possible.

According to the petitioner, his father was suffering from advance stage of liver failure. His father was undergoing treatment at ILBS and was in urgent need of a liver transplant.

The petition averred that several family members of his family have applied for donation of their liver, including his mother, elder brother, aunt and uncle, but due to certain medical complications, their applications could not be accepted.

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The petition further said that upon testing, it was found that he could donate a part of his liver to his father and hence on August 27, 2021, he applied to the Authorization Committee for permission to donate a part of his liver to his father. On August 28, the said application was rejected, stating that the petitioner was a minor. The petitioner’s age on the date of refusal was 17 years, 8 months and 19 days.

According to the plea, in Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act 1994, there is no absolute bar on donation of Human Organ or Tissue by a minor. Rule 5(3)(g) of Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules 2014 states that living organ or tissue donation by minor is not permitted, except medical grounds to be recommended in detail, with justification and prior approval of competent authority.

The petition was filed and argued by Advocate Prasoon Kumar.