NEW DELHI: There is a need to promote organ donation from deceased persons and “brain stem dead” people to meet the huge demand for organs in the country, Minister of State for Health Anupriya Patel said on Saturday.
Patel was speaking on the occasion of the 14th Indian Organ Donation Day ceremony organised by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO).
Addressing the event attendees, Patel lauded the family members of deceased organ donors for “doing the greatest service to mankind by saving the lives of numerous people”.
She also felicitated the families of few deceased organ donors and organ recipients.
Calling them an inspiration for the entire country, she encouraged the people to step forward to pledge to donate their organs after death.
“It is only through the concerted efforts of every individual and institutions that India can realise its vision of becoming one of the leading countries in organ donation and transplantation,” she said.
The Union Minister said that though many countries such as Spain, the US and China are much ahead in organ donation, India, too, has made some notable achievements in this field recently.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has highlighted the importance of organ donation while emphasising that one organ donor can give new life to up to 8 people, she said.
She also urged officials to take all steps to ensure that no donated organs are wasted and they are properly transplanted.
Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog was also present on the occasion.
Addressing the gathering, Dr Paul informed that kidney transplantation is covered under the AB PM-JAY (Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana) and called upon insurance companies to cover organ transplantation.
He also highlighted significant efforts made by the Union government to ensure ease of organ transplantation such as the “One Nation, One Policy” which removed the domicile and age-related roadblocks to organ transplantation.
He ended his address by paying tribute to organ donors and urging people to unitedly come forward towards this noble cause.
On the occasion, Union Health Secretary Apurva Chandra highlighted the need to enhance awareness about organ donation as there are a large number of people registering for need of organs.
He said, “Although India ranks third in organ transplantation, since most organ donations happen amongst family members, there is a need to inspire people to register for organ donation.”
Chandra also stressed that “to ensure that there is no organ wastage, we must strengthen our system”.
“When we receive any brain-dead person, the time is less and we have to harvest the organs in 12 hours and the transplant has to happen within a short window. Hence, we have to improve our systems and it’s a big responsibility for NOTTO, SOTTO and ROTTO,” he added.
Union Minister Patel on this occasion felicitated the family members of 10 deceased donors for their brave decision of donating organs of their loved ones and four recipients of organ donation.
Awards were also presented to the best performing states, regional and state organ and tissue transplant organizations, medical colleges and institutions, professional societies, medical professionals and non-governmental Organizations, among others for their contribution to the field of organ donation and transplantation.
The ROTTO North-PGIMER, Chandigarh won the Best ROTTO (regional)Award.
Telangana bagged the Award for Best SOTTO (state), while Tamil Nadu and Karnataka received the Award for second best SOTTO. Manipur was conferred with ‘Best Emerging State in North East’ Award. (PTI)
