Sunday, March 20 2005 11:14 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has said that it did not violate any guidelines of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in carrying out stem cell transplants on heart patients undergoing bypass surgery.

The AIIMS issued a statement in clarification on March 17 that the ethics and safety of injection of stem cells into heart patients had been questioned by stem cell biologists and that the study did not have ICMR clearance.

AIIMS spokesperson Aarti Vij said in the statement that ICMR "had no guidelines related to stem cell research, when the study was initiated at AIIMS".

"Even now, the ICMR website has only draft guidelines which are available for consideration and comment but are not presently approved or notified. As such, AIIMS has not contravened any existing guidelines of the ICMR," the statement said.