Organ donation picked up in some parts of India, but continues to lag: Experts

New Delhi: While organ donation has picked up in some parts of India, it continues to lag in most others, said experts on National Organ Donation Day on Saturday.

With a mere 0.1 per cent of the population donating their organs after death in India, the country faces the lowest organ donation rate worldwide. In stark contrast, Western countries have 70-80 per cent deceased organ donation.

"Unfortunately organ donation is not much talked about in our country. As a result, the rate of organ donation in India is one of the poorest in the world. A lot of people are dying due to liver, kidney, heart, and lung diseases due to lack of organs. One deceased person can save up to eight lives, so you can understand how important organ donation is," Neeraj Saraf, Senior Director of Liver Disease and Transplantation at Medanta The Medicity, Gurugram, told IANS.

According to 2022 data by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO), Telangana had the highest number of deceased organ donors (194), followed by Tamil Nadu (156), Karnataka (151), Gujarat (148), and Maharashtra (105).

Telangana also topped the charts in terms of deceased donor transplants in 2022, with 655 transplants followed by Tamil Nadu (553), Karnataka (435), Gujarat (399), and Maharashtra (305).

"India has moved from nil to over 1,000 deceased organ donors annually, leading to life-saving organ transplantation for 4,000 individuals," (Col) Avnish Seth, VSM Chairman, Manipal Institute of Gastroenterology & Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Sciences, Manipal Hospital Dwarka, told IANS.

"The problem is that the requirement of organs is for more than 1 lakh individuals per year. Thus, even though we are moving in the right direction, there is a crisis at hand," he added.

As per the experts, the primary problem of low organ donation in our country is due to a lack of education and awareness among people.

In addition, religious practices and some logistic issues make it more difficult.

"Organ donation is not as much as it should be in our country. Organ donation has picked up in some parts of the country, the southern part, and some parts of West India like Maharashtra, are doing much better. But unfortunately, North India still lags," Saraf said.

The Government passed the Transplantation of Human Organs Act in 1994 and then the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act in 2011.

"But the implementation has been inconsistent as health is a state subject and some states have not even adopted the Acts," Seth said.

He also pointed out the lack of requisite infrastructure and expertise by many government hospitals. However, steps have been initiated to have at least one transplanting government hospital in each state.

The experts also called for increasing awareness of organ donation amongst the general population.

"Many people are unaware of the process and the benefits of donating organs. Again the Government has done well by introducing organ donation and transplantation in school curricula and creating a QR code for ease of pledging one's organs and tissues," Seth said.

The experts stressed the need for a concerted effort from the government, private hospitals, NGOs, and the public to create an efficient and ethical organ donation system in India.