New Delhi, Oct. 17 -- The Supreme Court has directed the Centre to create a dedicated online portal for patients undergoing stem cell therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) within six weeks. The court also made it mandatory for such patients, their parents, guardians, caregivers and also the treating medical practitioners and clinics administering such therapy to maintain an extensive database.

The order, passed on October 13 and uploaded on Friday, comes in the backdrop of the court's January 30 order prohibiting the use of stem cell therapy as a routine clinical service, directing it only to be undertaken only within an approved and monitored clinical trial or research setting.

A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said...