New Delhi: Organ donation is true to India’s ancient ethos, I urge all stakeholders to spread awareness about organ donation,” President Ram Nath Kovind said while addressing the Dehdaniyon Ka Utsav at Rashtrapati Bhavan on November 10. While inaugurating a book titled, ‘Body-Organ Donation’, President Kovind said that it is through organ donation that human values in the country will grow. “One person’s duty of organ towards another person in society will pave the concept of human values in the country.”
#PresidentKovind addresses Dehdaniyon Ka Utsav at Rashtrapati Bhavan; says organ donation is true to India’s ancient ethos; urges all stakeholders to spread awareness about organ donation pic.twitter.com/ndMjrTAeUS
— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) November 10, 2017
Talking about its relevance in the scientific world he said as basic as taking an oath or pledging organs can help the scientists and medical world to expand their knowledge in this direction.
देह दान का संकल्प वैज्ञानिकों व चिकित्सा जगत हेतु ज्ञान का नया मार्ग प्रशस्त करेगा। समाज में एक व्यक्ति का दूसरे व्यक्ति के प्रति कर्त्तव्य, देश में मानवीय मूल्यों की अवधारणा को प्रशस्त करेगा— राष्ट्रपति कोविन्द
— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) November 10, 2017
President Kovind also highlighted the country’s widening gap between the demand and supply of organs and said that there is a need to generate awareness among masses about organ donation.
“As per a survey, nearly 5 lakh people people die every year in India due to unavailability of organs. In order to bridge the gap, the whole organ transplantation process should be simplified,” he said.
एक सर्वेक्षण के अनुसार, भारत में प्रत्येक वर्ष लगभग 5,00,000 व्यक्तियों की मृत्यु देह-अंगों की अनुपलब्धता के कारण हो जाती है — राष्ट्रपति कोविन्द
— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) November 10, 2017
There is need to generate awareness among masses about organ donation. Process of #OrganDonation should be simplified: #PresidentKovind pic.twitter.com/UzSDZp8Jsc
— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) November 10, 2017
He further added, “It is our duty to first explain to people the entire organ donation procedure in a simple language and then encourage them towards the cause.”
हमारा यह प्रयास होना चाहिए कि हम लोगों को देह-अंग दान से संबंधित प्रक्रिया को सरल रूप से समझाये और उन्हें देह-अंग दान के लिए प्रोत्साहित करें— राष्ट्रपति कोविन्द
— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) November 10, 2017
“Surva Santu Niramaya which means that everyone should be healthy. Following this model, let us firmly build a ‘healthy strong India,” he concluded.
A Quick Look At India’s Organ Donation Scenario
Nearly 2 lakh people die of liver disease, 50,000 people die from heart disease and around one and half lakh people await a kidney transplant but only 5,000 get one.
Also Read: Blogs: In Numbers: The Status Of Organ Donation In India
To begin with, only 0.08% of Indians donate their organs in India which has a population of more than a billion people. Myths and misconceptions remains one of the many prime reasons why the donation rate is so low in India. Secondly, even if more number of people come forward and pledge for this noble deed, the procedure of organ transplantation is restricted to only some areas in the country due lack of infrastructure.
India has only 301 hospitals that are equipped enough to carry out an organ transplant or organ retrieval. In other words, there exists one hospital for about 43 lakh people.
Many organs in India simply go waste especially in case of deceased transplantation, where organs of a brain dead patient can lease a new life to another person. For instance, every year 1.5 lakh road accidents are reported of which 75 per cent of the people are declared brain dead. However of those 75 per cent organs, India only utilises 10 per cent and the rest of the organs go waste.
“Had we been not wasting organs at this rate, we would have been able to perform 30,000 kidney transplants easily,” says Dr. Vimal Bhandari, Director of country’s apex organ donation agency – NOTTO or the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation.
