Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya. Photo: Facebook/mansukhmandviya
Organ failure has become a health crisis in the country with a huge gap between available donors and patients requiring organ transplants, Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare has said.
In a letter to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, he said to reduce the increasing demand for organs and waiting list, the people were being requested to come forward for organ donation and give hope of a new life to the people suffering from organ failure.
Saying that organ donation was emerging a mass movement after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to the nation, he said organ donation pledge registration campaign was initiated to create awareness under the Government of India’s Ayushman Bhava initiative.
Over 1.27 lakh people had registered their pledge to donate organs as on January 14, 2024 through the web portal of National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO).
Mr Mandaviya said a donor after brain stem death could save 8 to 9 lives by donating organs and improve the quality of life of many others also by donating tissues. Tissues could also be donated after natural death. “Patients of any age suffering from organ failure can register themselves in the National Registry through any transplant hospital in the country to receive donated organ(s). This registration is free of cost.”
The Union Government was continuously making efforts towards streamlining organ donation and transplantation so that more and more countrymen in need could benefit from it. “You will also appreciate that this organ donation pledge registration campaign can help save the lives of lakhs of people suffering from organ failure,” he said.
He requested the Chief Minister to issue appropriate guidelines to the various departments to launch widespread awareness campaigns to dispel myths regarding organ donation. This would help in bridging the gap between the number of organ donors and those suffering from end stage organ failure, the Minister said.
