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Religious Leaders Dispel Myths About Organ Donation

India has one of the lowest organ donor rates in the world and it is believed that religion plays a huge role. There are a lot of myths and religious rituals surrounding death that deter people from donating the organs of a loved one.

How Can India Bridge Its Organs Demand-Supply Gap? Experts Speak

India has one of the lowest rates of organ donations in the world. Estimates show about 4 lakh people die every year while waiting for an organ transplant. So what are the biggest challenges India faces and what can be done to boost the rate of donations? These are some of the suggestions from experts in our studio.

Why Health Insurance Is A Grey Area For Organ Donors

Most health insurance policies do offer cover for organ transplant surgeries. Ideally, for live donors, this should mean that the costs associated with the pre-operative testing and hospitalisation should be borne by the recipient or their insurance company, as all these are integral to the transplantation procedure. However, the extent of ‘organ donor coverage’ offered by different companies can vary.

A Dismal Setting For Organ Donations In India

For a country with a population of more than a billion people, India has only 301 hospitals across the country that can perform organ transplants. The focus is currently on developing a comprehensive and robust national program where information and organs are shared in a fair, transparent and equitable manner.

43 Organ Transplants Performed Across India In A Single Day

One of the men waiting here is Prashant Bariya, whose wife, Naveena, 32, is finally undergoing a desperately required kidney transplant after 2 years of suffering and 10 months of dialysis. The donor is her older sister, who luckily happened to be an exact match and is now simultaneously being operated upon in an operating theatre adjacent to hers.

The Critical Link To Increasing Organ Donation Rates

The only way bolster the low figures of organ donation in India is by raising ground level awareness, dispelling misinformation and promoting people to register themselves as potential organ donors after death. The one point-person who can effectively do all of this is a Transplant Coordinator – a person who broaches the issue of organ donation with the family of a brain dead patient.