India to See a Rise in Organ Donations

Bangalore: India is still to experience the boons of organ donation with Mumbai being one of the few cities to see a rise in organ donations. Organ donations don’t just save lives but also generate good amount of funds, reports Nikita for CNN-IBN. As per experts the healthcare sector may get richer by Rs 5,000 crore due to this.

In 2012 Mumbai witnessed 43 kidneys and 18 livers being donated. However, the situation seems gloomy in the rest of the nation as organs are obtainable to only 10 percent of the patients who need them, said All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Dr Rakesh Rai, Liver Transplant Specialist, Fortis Hospital, said to IBN Live "There are multiple issues. All the doctors are not aware of cadaveric organ donation, how to identify a cadaver, who can be a potential donor. Then the next step is public awareness. Majority of the public even in the big cities is not aware about this cadaver donation."

Unlike developed countries India still doesn't have a national database. Dr Gustad B Daver, President, Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee, said "There is an urgent need to translate this to a national level. And how, right now, the infrastructure in organ transplants is such that if there is a matching donor in Meerut, a patient in Delhi also cannot get the organs," as reported by IBN Live.

Dr Sujata Patwardhan, secretary, Mumbai Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee was quoted saying by the Hindustan Times “Increased awareness after Vilasrao Deshmukh’s death has led to a lot of cadaver organ donations in 2012. People now understand the meaning of a brain dead patient and have themselves started coming forward to donate organs.”

It is also noted that since the setting up of Mumbai Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee (ZTCC) in 1997, 345 cadaver organs, that is 290 kidneys, 53 livers, and two lungs have been donated until now. Last year 63 organs were donated — 43 kidneys, 18 livers and 2 lungs. The rise was seen after a big drop in 2011, when only 20 kidneys and six livers were donated.

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