New Delhi: Every year, about 5 lakh people die awaiting organ transplants due to non-availability of organs in India. While India has a poor organ donation rate of 0.8 donors per million people, there is one state that has got it right – Telangana which has a donation rate of 4 donors per million people. The state is on the forefront of donating organs at the national level, thanks to the state-run Jeevandan organ donation scheme, which has also been chosen as the best performing organ donation drive in the country by National Organ and Tissue Transplant OrganiSation (NOTTO), Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on the National Organ Donation Day 2017.
Launched in 2013, the Jeevandan organ donation scheme has so far retrieved 1075 organs from 414 deceased organ donors. This year, Jeevandan organ donation scheme hit a milestone with 127 donations, this is the highest since its launch.
Applauding the efforts of the Telangana government, Information and Technology Minister of Telangana, K. T. Rama Rao added,
“Telangana achieves yet another distinction on Health front. It is rated as No. 1 state by Government of India for ‘Jeevandaan’ Organ Donation, awareness campaign and training. My compliments to the Health Minister & team.”
What Sets The Jeevandan Scheme Apart?
In 2013 the scheme was launched by the government, to ensure a centralised system is followed for both organ donation and organ allocation. The scheme includes everyone, from hospitals to individuals. TILL date, more than 30 hospitals are registered with the Jeevandan scheme.
Explaining the Jeevandan scheme and what sets the scheme apart from other states, Dr.G Swarnalatha, Additional Professor from the department of Nephrology and in charge Jeevandan programme added, “Jeevandan is a centralised system, no hospitals in the state can end up doing organ donation on their own, all organs are distributed through this one system and that’s what sets Telangana apart.
Highlighting how the organ is allotted to a person through a scheme, Dr.G Swarnalatha added,
“The allotment of organs is decided on various parameters like,
a. Time on the waiting list
b. Tissue match and age combined (favoring younger patients)
c. Age difference between the donor and patient
d. Location of patient in relation to donor, after careful analysis of all these factors, organ is distributed.”
“One centralised and unique allotment of organs ensures more availability and smooth allocation to the people in need. This particular chain is not there in most of the states,” added Dr.G Swarnalatha.
Apart from ensuring a centralised process is followed, a lot of emphasis is there on education and awareness about Organ Donation in the state, the scheme undertakes the responsibility of educating the system, like the hospitals, doctors and nurses about Organ Donation.
Organ Donation is also currently there in the syllabus of class 10 students in all schools, thanks to the scheme.
“All these steps are being taken, so as there is enough communication about the topic and people know this by heart,” said Dr.G Swarnalatha.
Currently there are five retrieval centers in Telangana and the government is hoping to get one in each of the district.
Dr. G Swarnalatha signs off by saying, “We are working towards a goal of doing at least one organ donation and transplantation in any of the city hospitals every day. And, this rate can only be achieved if people are aware about Organ Donation.”