On January 2, 2025, the liver and kidneys of a 50-year-old male were donated. It marked the first deceased organ donation of the year, conducted at MGM New Bombay Hospital at Vashi in Navi Mumbai.
In the Indian context, despite its demographic dividend, the rate of organ donation has been abysmally low, say experts. ‘An empirical investigation on the impact of attitudes towards organ donation in India’, a study by researcher Smitha Nayak, found that awareness of organ donation law in India is low on specific issues and more among those from the health science and medicine related fields scored better on knowledge about organ donation.
The willingness to discuss with family significantly mediates the association between attitude towards organ and tissue donation and willingness to sign the donor card.
Experts agree that the number of donors is slowly rising, yet a lot needs to be done with regard to generating awareness and “changing people’s perceptions.” Lalitha Mohan, a biochemistry professor at Vinayaka Mission Research Foundation in Puducherry, says that the rate of organ transplantation has increased gradually in the last two decades and gives outstanding results in children and young adults.
India has a fairly well‑developed corneal donation and transplant program; however, donation after brain death has been relatively slow to take off. In the backdrop of annual demand of 120,000 corneas, around 50,000 were collected during the past few years, yet less than 25 per cent could be transplanted due to quality issues,” says Mohan.
In her research paper, she explains how organ wastage is further adding to the problem, citing statistics in various categories. She says that the total’ brain deaths’ due to accidents is approximately 1.5 lakhs per annum. Other causes like brain tumours and IC bleeding would eventually add more numbers. In India, the total demand for organ donations is two lakh kidneys, 49,000 hearts, and 47,000 livers every year. If only 5 to 8 per cent of total brain deaths are harvested in a proper manner, there would be no need for organ donations from a living person.
In the case of heart donation, the scenario of organ wastage is even worse. Due to factors like cost and availability of experts, hearts are mostly wasted in India.
In the last five months, with the efforts of the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization, the utilization of organs and their distribution has improved with much less wastage.
Organ donation (OD) is defined as the process of retrieving or procuring an organ or part of it from a live or deceased person and then transplanting it into another living person. According to the Organ Procurement of Transplant Network (OPTN, 2015), the organs donated by one single donor can save up to eight lives. The most commonly transplanted solid organs are kidneys, liver and heart, while cornea and musculoskeletal grafts are the most commonly transplanted tissues.
