THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: State police chief Loknath Behera has cautioned the police officials against interrogation and harassment of doctors in connection with complaints regarding brain death certification of patients for organ harvesting.
In a fresh directive issued to the cops the other day, the state police chief said that the medical records regarding organ transplantation should be initially verified before interrogation of doctors.
The directive was issued in the wake of complaints that doctors who certified brain deaths were being subjected to inquiry by police officers in some instances without pursuing the transplant records available with the Kerala Network for Organ Sharing (KNOS). There were instances of relatives of those declared brain dead alleging malpractice.
According to the directive, in case of complaints regarding brain death certification, the police have to first ascertain whether there has been complications with respect to the organ transplantation by verifying the records available with KNOS. Clarifications can be had from the nodal officer of KNOS.
Only afterwards the doctors and hospitals concerned need to be approached if further investigation was required, said the directive.
"If the doctors who spend hours to certify a brain death are unnecessarily harassed by the police it may even interrupt the organ transplantation programme to a great extent and human lives will be at stake," the state police chief said in the directive.
