India must aim to top the list in organ donations

It was a very unusual sight at the funeral of a common girl in Odisha on February 24. A team of police and civil officials paid respects on behalf of the State government to Damayanti Mahanta at Swargadwar cremation ground in Puri. The honours included a 21-gun salute, wrapping the corpse in the Tricolour and other formalities come with it. This was the Naveen Patnaik government’s way of recognising the selfless act of the kin of the deceased in making significant contribution to the society by donation the organs of their dead/brain dead.

Since her admission at AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, on February 15, Mahanta never recovered. With no signs and hopes of recovery, the expert panel of the hospital declared her brain dead. When someone is declared brain dead, they can never recover again, can’t breathe or maintain other vital functions on their own. It must be appreciated that the grieving parents and relatives must be heled in their hour of grief to recoup and ponder how the patient can give a lease of life to others. Informed consent is taken for recovery of vital organs before withdrawal of life support.

The decision of Naveen Patnaik to recognise noble act of the donors’ kin and make the befitting gesture of full state honours to donor is worth emulation by all other CMs in the country. When governments are involved and pay tributes to the donors, it drives awareness in the society that it is indeed a heroic act. Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, are already paying state respects to the donors. The Patnaik government had in 2020 instituted the Suraj Award in recognition of a brain-dead organ donor from Ganjam district, who had saved six lives. The kin of organ donors in Odisha receive Rs 5 lakh from the CM Relief Fund on World Organ Donation Dayon August 13.

No bar on caste, religion, nationality etc., giving a second chance of life is in everybody’s hands. We can leave anything in our will, but bequeathing life to others is the noblest act that anyone can do. One organ donor can save up to eight lives and improve the lives of more than 75 others through tissue donation.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had some time back given a call that “Jeete ji Raktdaan, Marne ke baad Angadaan should be the motto of our life.” This realisation is driving organ donations in the country. In 2021, India ranked third in the world in organ transplantation, only behind USA and China, as per the data available on the Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation (GODT) website.

This glad tiding notwithstanding, India needs more organ donations. There are reports that over 3,00,000 patients are on the waiting list for organ donations in India. Around 20 individuals are dying daily while awaiting organ transplants. India’s organ donations, especially deceased donations, have been very few. It was just about 16,040 in 2022. There is a great need to train trauma and ICU medical staff to sensitise patients’ families to come forward and donate. They must be able to counsel well those in acute mental grief.As against the need for 2,00,000 kidney transplants a year, hardly 10,000 transplants are performed annually in India. There isa dire need for collective efforts by governments and NGOs to promote organ donations never like before. It feels good to note that the Supreme Court decided on February 3, 2024, decided to entertain a PIL for direction to governments to promote organ donations in all hospitals.India has the potential to be the best in organ donations.