Indian Transplant Newsletter.Vol. 15 Issue No.: 47 (Mar 2016–Jun 2016)
Print ISSN 0972 - 1568

Ethical, Legal and Psychosocial Aspects of Transplantation (ELPAT) – A Unique Organ Transplantation Conference

Indian Transplant Newsletter.
Vol. 15 Issue No.: 47 (Mar 2016–Jun 2016)
Print ISSN 0972 - 1568
Print PDF


ELPAT is a movement that strives to look at new developments in the field of ethical, legal and psychosocial aspects of organ transplantation. It is an offshoot body of the European Society of Organ Transplantation and it meets every two years. I have had the privilege to be invited for the last two conferences, first at Rotterdam and this year, the 4th Congress at the historic city of Rome to present the perspectives from South-east Asia. This conference is different from other medically-oriented transplant conferences in that it addresses aspects of transplantation that are not normally discussed at such conferences.

This year’s congress was themed ‘Global Challenges’ and was held from 22nd to 25th April 2016. There were over 250 delegates and experts at the conference who included ethicists, philosophers, physicians, lawyers, criminologists, anthropologists, psychologists, coordinators, nurse practitioners and policy-makers who are actively involved in the field of organ donation and transplantation. Interactive plenary debates, innovative focus sessions, and in-depth workshops on topics that are relevant to transplant professionals made this a unique conference that is a meeting ground for all concerned in the complex field of transplantation.

ELPAT has seven working groups. Each working group addresses a specific topic in the field of ethical, legal and psychosocial aspects of organ transplantation. The purpose of these study groups is to elaborate on these topics in-depth, and to study the possibilities for uniform guidelines for Europe on that specific topic. The seven working groups are:

• Deceased Donation (DD)

• Legal Boundaries for Organ Transplantation in Europe (LB)

• Living Organ Donation (LOD)

• Organ Tourism and Paid Donation (OT)

• Paediatric Donation and Transplantation (PEDAT)

• Psychological Care for Living Donors and Recipients (PC)

• Public Issues (PI)

This year’s highlight besides the conference was the release of a book entitled “Combating trafficking in persons for the purpose of organ removal”, otherwise known as “the HOTT Project”. This international research project is an EU-funded project against this ‘new’ and neglected form of trafficking in human beings.

From India we had three presentations –

• Role of transplant coordinators in public engagement

• Cultural and religious considerations in living and deceased donation

• Influencers of public trust in the organ donation system in India – by Nora Pernesch MOHAN Foundation’s intern from Aarhus University, Denmark

 

Nora’s impression of the congress was as follows –

The four days of the conference were packed with insightful presentations and thought-provoking debates. Living donation and the ethics of incentivizing donors were only two among the many hot topics of the conference and the diverse agenda also provided vast insights into the variations of national organ donation approaches and systems, many times followed by subsequent debates leading to emphasize that there is no one model that fits all. Topics such as facial, head and uterus transplantation made me once again be amazed by the possibilities of modern medicine and took debates about moral, social and legal aspects to another level.

There were insightful presentations and lively debates on transplant tourism and organ trafficking, which once again proved that the issue yet continues to be only fragmentarily understood. As suspicions around organ commercialism are among the factors to fuel mistrust and obstruct organ donation in India and other South Asian countries, there is a clear need to better understand transplant tourism and organ commercialism and its interferences on public perception in these countries as well.

As a delegate I also had the honor to present some preliminary results of my research conducted with MOHAN Foundation in Chennai in late 2015. The analysis of twenty semi-structured interviews showed that

although transparency, government support and altruism are important preconditions, public trust as for now seems to be mainly built on the level of personal experience and relations at the hospital, whereas media and community dynamics act as important facilitators. These findings provide supporting evidence for the crucial importance of highly skilled transplant coordinators in the Indian context, which Dr. Sunil Shroff emphasized in his presentation on ‘The role of transplant coordinators in public engagement.’  - Dr. Sunil Shroff


To cite : Shroff S, Navin S. Ethical, Legal and Psychosocial Aspects of Transplantation (ELPAT) – A Unique Organ Transplantation Conference. Indian Transplant Newsletter.Vol. 15 Issue No.: 47 (Mar 2016–Jun 2016).
Available at:
https://www.itnnews.co.in/indian-transplant-newsletter/issue47/Ethical-Legal-and-Psychosocial-Aspects-of-Transplantation-ELPAT-A-Unique-Organ-Transplantation-Conference-435.htm

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