Need For Organ Donation In India

‘Life Is A Gift, Give One Too’

Numbers speak louder than anything. These alarming statistics about the situation of organ donation will make you understand the need for organ donation in India.

Approximately 5 lakh people die every year due to non-availability of organs!
Imagine the time lakhs of people face when they are only waiting for death. Every day, they wish for an organ to be available that can save their lives. But that never happens. Feel their pain.

One person dies of kidney failure every 5 minutes, putting the yearly death due to kidney failures over 1,00,000!

The number of prospective recipients are far greater than the number of donors!

There are only 301 hospitals in India that can undertake organ transplants, out of which only 148 are registered with NOTTO!
There is only one hospital per 43 lakh people in India to handle organ donation and transplantation! It is next to impossible for one hospital to handle the needs of such a large number of people.

Also, the population in India is increasing with geometric progression but the facilities are not! Can one imagine the situation for organ donation after 10 years if concrete steps are not taken immediately?

India’s ODR rate is just 0.34!
India’s Organ Donation Rate (ODR) is a very low 0.34. Which means that per million people in India, only 0.5 people donate their organs. When we compare it to the world – 36 persons per million of population donated organs in Spain in 2014, 35 donated in Croatia, 27.02 donated in the United States.

Tamil Nadu is considered to be the organ donation capital of India because of its high organ donation rate. Out of the total number of cadaveric donors in India, the highest were from Tamil Nadu. The state accounted for roughly 25% of the total donors in India. The ODR of Kerala and Tamil Nadu has also been high around 2.5.

The approximate number of brain-deaths in India is around 1.5lakh – if every patient donated their organs, a large number of people could be solved.
There has to bewillingness to donate – there are so many numbers of brain-death that happen in India. However the number of donors are drastically less.

More than 50% of the family members either refuse to donate the organs or are not aware about organ donation in India:
Even if family members of a brain-dead patient are made aware about organ donation they will refuse to donate organs due to various mindsets and myths. Sometimes, even if the brain-dead patient in his lifetime wants to donate organs, the lack of communication between the family members and transplant institute gives rise to hurdles.

Most patients suffering from organ failure live quantity life instead of quality life.
For instance, people suffering from kidney failure have to be on dialysis. That is when they live a ‘quantity life’, suffering from pain and counting their days. While once they get a transplant, their life becomes a ‘quality life’. There is a need for the latter to happen more than the former.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), only about 0.01 percent in India donate their organs after death, while in Western countries around 70-80 percent of people pledge their organs.
When comparedto other countries in the world, India has a long way to go. But these statistics show that having a high ODR is possible with the right conviction and awareness, along with training programmes for transplant personnel.

In India there a belief that we are living in ‘kalyug’ where no one does anything for another without vested interests.
Organ donation busts the myth that humanity is extinct. Along with the physical needs of India as a nation, there is a very strong mental need of trust and faith in fellow humans. Organ donation, inspires and many a times, rekindles the faith of humans in one another. This one of the most primary needs of organ donation.