Organ Donation Has to Be Promoted

Organ Donation influences not only the donors and recipients but also positively influence their families, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances who love and support those in need of transplantation, and who benefit from their renewed life and improved health after transplant.

- Dr Arun Oommen

Organ donation is the harvesting of an individual’s organs after he or she dies for the purpose of transplanting them into another person. The person who gives the organs is called a donor while a person who receives the organ is called a recipient. One brain-dead donor can save up to eight lives of people suffering from end-stage organ failures. In certain cases, a live donation also takes place when a living person donates an organ (or part of an organ) for transplantation to another person. 13th August is celebrated every year as Organ Donation Day in India.

What is Organ Donation?

Organ Donation is the gift of an organ to a person who needs a transplant to improve his condition and health status. It is a procedure in which a health organ (donor) is taken from an individual who is either living or deceased and is transplanted into a person whose respective organ (recipient) is malfunctioning. Donated organs give the recipient the opportunity for a longer and better quality of life.

Organ donation is a legal procedure. It is governed by a transplant regulatory body and special acts laid down by authorities. All institutions conducting transplants have to be registered by the government and follow rules and regulations.

Need to Increase Organ Donation:

• Every year, about 5 lakh people die awaiting organ transplants due to the non-availability of organs.

• There is a wide gap between the number of transplants awaited and