The Tamil Nadu Health Department has decided to set up two more authorization panels to help kidney donors and recipients in the state, and has extended free distribution of cyclosporine to patients undergoing renal transplantation in private hospitals.

At present the donors and recipients from south and central parts of Tamil Nadu have to travel to Chennai for getting the approval for transplantation from the committee based in Chennai.

The two new authorization committees will come up at Madurai and Coimbatore, according to state health minister N Thalaivi Sundram. The dean of the Government Rajaji Hospital Madurai will be the chairperson for the Madurai panel, and the joint director (health) and a representative of the district collector will be the members. The collector's representative would be an official not below the rank of a deputy collector, said the minister, who added that the Coimbatore panel would be decided soon.

The authorization committee will meet once in a month, and will verify the documents, donors and patients for allowing the transplant, based on a prior notification about the meeting.

He also said the state government has relaxed the norms for distribution of cyclosporine free to patients who undergo renal transplantation in private hospitals. Earlier, this was restricted only to government hospitals with renal transplantation facility. For this the government has allotted another Rs.60 lakhs to purchase and distribute the medicine. The details were being worked out, said the minister.