The recent passage of the Bill, on the transplanation of human organs, by Parliament is a long overdue measure aimed at curbing widespread trafficking in organs, especially kidneys. As the only country where kidneys can be transplanted from donors unrelated to the patient India, and notably Bombay, has gained international notoriety as the capital of the organ trade. Wealthy patients from India and abroad, unscrupulous doctors and rapacious brokers have made this a multi crore racket in which the only loser is the impoverished donor parting with an organ for small money. The legislation strikes at such exploitative transactions by stipulating that blood relations and spouses are the only live donors from whom kidneys can be transplanted, and making the buying and selling of human organs a cognisable offence.
By allowing the transport of cadaver organs, the Act not only opens new avenues in the treatment of renal failure, where the availability of donor kidneys falls far short of demand, but paves the way for liver transplants for which expertise exists in India. The statutory recognition of brain stem death, which is accepted medical practice the world over, widens the scope of cadaver transplants by making beating heart cadavers another source for donar organs.
Ture, the mere enactment of such legislation cannot put an end to an entrenched practice that thrives on patronage from sections of the medical community, and political and public apathy. The delay of nearly two years between the introduction of the Bill and its passage and the attempts of people vested interests to introduce certain dubsious amendments are an indication of what the law is up against. The effectiveness of the law will depend, therefore, on the state's determination to implement it through vigilant monitoring. The provisions for cadaveric transplants will remain on paper in the absence of public education to encourage the voluntary donation of bodies and organs overcomimg religious taboos, and the setting up of institutional facilities for organ retrieval and storage. Most of all, the law rests on the realisation by medical professionals that ethical and humane values must prevail over other considerations. The removal of organs from unrelated donors is almost invariably a transfer of health from the poor and weak to the rich. It cannot be defended on any ground.
1.
Which of the following means ‘rests on’ as used in the passage?
