Without the organ donor, there is no story; there is no hope, no transplant. But when there is an organ donor, life springs from death, sorrows turn from hope, and a terrible loss becomes a gift.
– United Network for Organ Sharing Report

Thousands of organs are donated in our country every year; we fall short of lakhs. Less than 5,000 kidney transplants are carried out annually against an estimated requirement of over 1.75 lakh. Only 1,000 liver transplants are performed every year as about 1 lakh Indians die due to end-stage liver diseases, mostly related to preventable causes like Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C. The annual requirement of hearts is estimated to be around 50,000 and lungs about 20,000.

India has the dual ignominy of maximum number of road accident-related deaths in the world but one of the lowest organ donation rates. There are hundreds of individuals with brain death in intensive care units, but lack of awareness, processes and protocol means their organs will never be donated. In the absence of a robust programme, only a few affluent and fortunate patients find organs, mostly from living donors. But, retrieving organs from living donors not only excludes heart, lung, intestine and pancreas transplantation, but also lends itself to risk to the life of a healthy donor, coercion and desperate attempts at procuring organs.

Altruism comes easily to us as a nation. What is lacking is the process. The availability of medical expertise, infrastructure, resources and increasing awareness on organ donation, coupled with a newfound administrative vigour on the part of the government, can propel India into a new exciting phase of deceased organ donation. We can look at our lives in a different light.

Each of us, on passing, can save up to 7 lives by way of organ donation. Each of us can enhance over 50 lives by way of tissue donation. Even in death, we bring life. We have More to Give.

(Source of facts: Fortis Internal Report)