mumbai in a landmark decision the national organ tissue transplant organisation notto on wednesday allowed an ailing man to get a kidney from his brain dead younger brother on humanitarian grounds the decision which has sidestepped rules of the transplant act has paved the way for two more lifesaving transplants including that of a 27yearold woman who received the heart the notto order is also likely to lead to amendments in transplant ruleslawyer nitin vhatkar threw the state agencies into a tizzy on tuesday with an unusual request that the zonal transplant coordination committee ztcc allocate his brain dead brothers kidney to him and allow him to jump the organ waitlist a patient with endstage renal failure nitin had been on dialysis for over two years ztcc initially turned down the request saying the law does not allow conditional donationsa flurry of activities began soon after as the states directorate of health services dhs did not agree with the ztccs decision and escalated the matter to notto the countrys highest body that governs transplantsin new delhi on wednesday morning to their surprise the delhi body reacted swiftly asking for case details the first approval came on a messaging application to reduce any further delay followed by a call from union health ministry joint secretary k l sharma to ztcc asking them to allow the transplantdr jagdish prasad who heads notto said there was no question of refusing them permission it was an exceptional case a dilemma we have never had before the man is dying of renal failureand here he is getting an organ from his own brotherwhere is the question of saying no especially when he has expressed his willingness to donate for others prasad who is also the director general of health services said amendments will be made to the transplantation of the human organ act rules to accommodate similar requests from donor families in future we cannot change the act but we can amend the rules we have to allow this provision to immediate members of organ donors we will begin by defining close relatives so that agencies dont hesitate to allow such cases he saidby afternoon things had begun to move at fortis hiranandani hospital in vashi where nitins younger brother sandeep who was a medical officer in a public hospital was declared brain dead nitins blood samples were sent to jj hospital for cross matching organ retrieval had begun late in the eveningthe hospital spokesperson said one of the kidneys will be sent to sevenhills hospital in marol where nitin was registered for a transplant the other kidney was shared with fortis hospital itself while the heart was allocated to kokilaben ambani hospital in andherithe hospital said nitin had also given consent for retrieval of corneas at the time dr rajendra karwa medical superintendent of sevenhills hospital said nitin was admitted to the hospital and was undergoing a few preoperative testsdr gauri rathod nodal officer for organ transplants at dhs said this