Organ Transplant Still a Myth in India?

Bangalore: Organ donation which is the process that involves donation of biological tissue or an organ of the human body, from a living or dead person to a living recipient who are in dire need of an organ. This dignified task can extend the life of up to 50 other human beings and can give a new life to the person. But a developing country like India due to its lack of cultural awareness and reliable medical infrastructure is still far away from the concept of organ donation and as such just a count of 0.16 per million populations of organ donors exist in this country, reported Times of India.

With the donated organ, organ transplantation can be carried out successfully after a patient is declared brain dead and the doctors can harvest 37 different organs and tissues to help other patients. For instance, a blind person could see the world again and a child born with a hole in the heart could survive till their hay day.

Western countries like Spain, U.S., Australia and UK are some of the countries where nationwide transplant co-ordination is successfully carried out to encourage people to go for organ transplant, as there are more number of organs doners in these countries.

Every year, there is a need of approximately 1, 75,000 kidneys, 50,000 hearts and 50,000 livers for transplantation in India. But, just 5,000 kidney transplants are performed in 180 centres, 400 livers are transplanted in 25 centres and 10-15 hearts in some centres are carried out annually.

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