Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashiwini Kumar Choubey on Tuesday said if more individuals decide to donate their organs it will bring huge change in country’s healthcare sector and many lives can be saved.
“There are lakhs of people who wait at top hospitals for life-saving transplants amid acute shortage of donors. Even if a section of individuals decide to donate his or her organs, it will bring a huge change,” Choubey said at an event to celebrate 9th Indian Organ Donation Day by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) under the aegis of the Health Ministry.
His ministerial colleague Anupriya Patel said that it is important to understand that in India it is mainly the living donors who are donating organs and only about 23 per cent of the organ transplant is being done with organs obtained from the cadavers.
“There is a need to promote cadaver or deceased organ donation rather than relying on living donors in order to avoid the risk of commercial trading of organs and also to avoid the inherent risk to the health of the living donor,” she added.
At the event, best performing State of Tamil Nadu was also felicitated while Maharashtra was awarded for promoting awareness on organ donations. Dr Subramania Iyer K, AIMS, Kochi was felicitated for conducting first hand transplant in the country and Dr Shailesh Puntambekar, Pune, received the award for conducting 1st Uterine Transplant in India.