New Delhi, March 12(IANS) The Delhi High Court Wednesday asked a social activist to withdraw his petition asking for exemption of customs duty on dialysis kits and spread awareness on kidney transplant through his NGO. A division bench of Justices T.S. Thakur and Aruna Suresh said in its order: “We are thinking that not only kidney diseases are taking more lives but also diseases like cancer and diabetes are killing more people. So spread the awareness through your NGO to raise the issue.”

Last week activist Rahul Verma had filed a petition focussing on issues related to kidney transplants and asking for a directive from the court to the government to make suitable changes in the Organ Transplant Act.

“We cannot ask government to review the law because it’s a policy matter. Also, government too itself cannot review the law and it’s the duty of the parliament to review the Organ Transplant Act,” the bench ruled.

The petition stated the court should direct the central and state governments to treat renal failure as a public health priority and fund low-cost dialysis.

The petitioner also demanded the government initiate a programme for donation of organs on the lines of eye donation camps and review the 1994 Human Organ Transplantation Act.

The police had Jan 24 unearthed an illegal kidney transplant racket being operated from Haryana’s Gurgaon town, on the outskirts of the national capital.

The people running the racket served clients from India and abroad after obtaining kidneys illegally, often under force, from poor people.