Karnataka High Court Directs Govt To Immediately Start Construction Of Organ Transplantation Institute In Bengaluru

A division bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Suraj Govindaraj dismissed a petition filed by Dr. R. Chandrashekara and Dr. B. Rudrappa, pending which the construction of the hospital had been put on hold. It said,

"While parting with this case we direct the state government to immediately start the construction of the proposed hospitals and complete it in a time bound manner."

Background

Senior Advocate Puttige R Ramesh appearing for the petitioners had submitted that the decision of the state to construct the Gastroenterology Science & Organ Transplantation Institute, in the premises of SDS Tuberculosis Research Center & Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases Bengaluru, is not in public interest.

It was submitted that it would adversely affect the Tuberculosis patients who are being treated in the said hospital. Patients would not get fresh air if open space is taken away for construction of another hospital, it was argued.

The petitioners also claimed that the state government can construct the Gastroenterology Science & Organ Transplantation Institute, at some other place and it is not necessary that land of SDS Tuberculosis Research Center & Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases, (RGICD) Bengaluru, is taken away for that purpose.

State's Stand

The government counsel countered the petition saying that there is a huge requirement for constructing a gastroenterology hospital and organ transplant institute. In Karnataka alone there are around 2,000 liver patients and about 1,700 kidney patients who are still waiting for transplants. But they have been unable to receive the transplant as there is a dearth of organ donors and most of the patients in the list die waiting for the donor. Moreover, only 60 transplants took place last year in Karnataka.

It was submitted that keeping all the above in mind, the Karnataka Government in the year 2012, had taken a decision to establish a liver transplant programme in Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, under the Pradhan Mantri Swastha Yojna and the program is running successfully. However, the said institute being run in an already super speciality hospital, has faced several problems including the problem of space and properly obtaining organs for transplant.

Under this circumstances, the Government of Karnataka has announced a new 200 bed institute which is expandable to 500 beds, dedicated for organ transplant which is to come up in RGICD campus. The construction of the institute would drastically reduce the cost of liver transplant, it was submitted.

Further it was said that there is a need for special manpower and infrastructure to manage the organs of donors of trauma and accident and it requires special centre to handle the organ transplants, and it is for this reason alone the RGICD campus was chosen as it is in the immediate vicinity of NIMHANS and also Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Trauma and Orthopaedics (SGITO).

"A larger area cannot be easily allotted for the institute in and around Bengaluru and as such in public interest the state government has taken the decision to construct the hospital in the vicinity of the existing SGITO," the government claimed.

Findings

The Court on considering the submission and having gone through the records said,

"There is nothing on record about what is the minimum requirement of land for a TB hospital. There is also nothing on record to indicate that in case the new hospitals are constructed they will adversely affect TB patients in the existing hospitals."

The court opined that it is for the authorities concerned to take the considered opinion of the experts in the field and accordingly decide the place and location of the hospitals which they propose to construct. "It is also for the state government to assess the suitability and requirement of such hospitals," it said.

Accordingly the writ petition was dismissed.

Case Title: Dr. R. Chandrashekara v. State Of Karnataka

Case No: WP 2147/2017

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Kar) 2