Relatives of the deceased persons whose organs are donated to the needy may be soon 'compensated' with medical/social support of up to Rs 5 lakh, if a proposal of the Health Ministry sees the light of the day.
The move, that 'compensatory support' should be doled out to any relative who has to go through the medical trauma of donating the organ of the family member, aims to boost deceased organ donation, which is dismally low in the country, said Dr Anil Kumar, National Organ Transplant programme officer in the Ministry of Health. He said the proposal is now with the Finance Ministry.
Dr Kumar said to begin with the proposal has been made to ensure social support to dependents of 1,500 organ donor families for cadaver organ donation towards medical treatment and or education of dependents up to Rs 5 lakh per donor. "The figure 1,500 is tentative. It might change depending on the number of donation," he expressed confidence.
However, while on the one hand, the Government is taking several steps to promote organ donation in the society, on the other hand many of these organs are often not properly utilised owing to poor infrastructure, financial constraints and shortage of doctors. Also, not all States have adopted the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act 2011.
Little wonder that the number of organ donation has witnessed a decline as compared to last year, if one goes by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) data. In 2018, there have been 4,805 kidney transplants (deceased- 892 and living 3913), 180 heart transplants and 1,130 (deceased 459, living -671) liver transplants, 145 lung transplants, 13 pancreas transplants, five hand transplants and one small bowl transplant so far.
Also, the total number of deceased donors is 571 so far. In 2017, there were 1,684 kidney transplants, 339 heart transplants, 708 liver transplants, 125 lung transplants, 14 pancreas transplants and the total number of deceased donors was 905, said Dr Vasanthi Ramesh, Director of NOTTO .
Those who have adopted the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act 2011 are Goa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Kerala, Punjab, Maharashtra, Punjab, Assam, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Manipur and Uttar Pradesh and all Union Territories including Delhi.