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Rail pass to promote cadaver organ donation

Special Correspondent

Union Health Ministry considering incentives

NEW DELHI: The Union Health Ministry is considering providing free second class railway pass and health insurance cover to persons who consent to donate organs of their brain-dead relatives.

These are among the proposals under consideration to promote cadaver organ donations under the national organ transplant programme to be launched in a few months, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said on Wednesday.

Demand-supply gap

Replying to queries at an interaction at the Eighth Editors Conference on Social Sector Issues here, he said there was need to simplify organ donation and make it more transparent in view of the huge gap between demand and supply. The requirement of kidneys was close to 2,00,000.

The Ministry would shortly establish a national authority to begin enforcing tobacco control legislation. The Centre already prohibited smoking in public places, advertising cigarettes and other tobacco products and their sale to persons below the age of 18 under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2001. Sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of educational institutions was banned from December 1, 2004 and the Ministry made it mandatory to specify warnings on tobacco products.

The Centre proposed to launch during the 11th Plan period a National Urban Health Mission to address primarily the needs of 3.26 crore people who live in slums, Dr. Ramadoss said.

There were 427 cities (including State capitals) with a population of 1 lakh and above; of these 100 were hi-focus cities.

Urban poor families, slum dwellers and migrant workers, an extremely vulnerable population, would be identified and given photo family health cards by the urban local body or any other State-specific mechanism.

While no person would be denied service in public health facilities, marginalised urban families would receive service on concessional terms under the mission, the Minister said.

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