There is a need to promote organ donation from deceased persons and “brain stem dead” people to meet the huge need for organ donation in the country. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has highlighted the importance of organ donation and has given special emphasis on the fact that one organ donor can give new life to up to 8 people, said Anupriya Patel, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare on the occasion of the 14th Indian Organ Donation Day ceremony organized by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO), in the presence of Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog.

Addressing the occasion, Patel lauded the family members of deceased organ donors for “doing the greatest service to mankind by saving the lives of numerous people”. Calling them an inspiration for the entire country, she encouraged the countrymen to step forward to pledge to donate their organs after death. “It is only through the concerted efforts of every individual and institutions that India can realise its vision of becoming one of the leading countries in organ donation and transplantation,” she added.

The Minister said that though many countries like Spain, the USA and China are much ahead in organ donation, India has also made some notable achievements in this field in recent times. She also urged officials to take all steps to ensure that no received organs are wasted before getting transplanted.

Dr. Vinod Kumar Paul who was also the Guest of Honour at the event highlighted the huge gap between the demand for and supply of organs and noted the need for institutional reforms in the government hospitals to take up the challenge of organ transplantation. He lamented that there are only around 750 institutions providing organ transplantation services and encouraged the other institutions to also come forward to provide such services.

Dr Paul informed that kidney transplantation is covered under the AB PM-JAY (Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana) and called upon insurance companies to cover organ transplantation. He also highlighted significant efforts made by the Union Government to ensure ease of organ transplantation like the “One Nation, One Policy” which removed the domicile and age-related roadblocks to organ transplantation. He ended his address by paying tribute to the organ donors and urging people to unitedly come forward towards this noble cause.

Union Health Secretary Apurva Chandra highlighted the need to enhance awareness about organ donation as there are a large number of people registering for need of organs. He mentioned that “although India ranks third in organ transplantation, since most organ donations happen amongst family members, there is a need to inspire people to register for organ donation”.

He also stressed that “to ensure that there is no organ wastage, we must strengthen our system. When we receive any brain-dead person, the time is less and we have to harvest the organs in 12 hours and the transplant has to happen within a short window. Hence, we have to improve our systems and it's a big responsibility for NOTTO, SOTTO and ROTTO.”

On the occasion, the Union Minister felicitated 10 family members of deceased donors for their brave decision of donating organs of their loved ones and four recipients of organ donation. Awards were also presented to the best performing States, Regional and State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organizations, medical colleges and institutions, professional societies, medical professionals and Non-Governmental Organizations, etc. to recognize their contribution in the field of organ donation and transplantation. ROTTO North-PGIMER, Chandigarh won the Best ROTTO Award.

Telangana bagged the Award for Best SOTTO/State, while Tamil Nadu and Karnataka received the Award for second best SOTTO/ State. Manipur was conferred with Best Emerging State in North East Award.

The event was also attended by Dr Anil Kumar, Director, NOTTO; Delhi Police personnel, organ recipients, students, as well as senior officials from the Union Health Ministry.