The sheer volume of our country in terms of population should put it right on top in the organ donation front. Unfortunately, this is far from reality. The scene has witnessed a definite progress over the last few decades but a steady rise in road accidents and trauma show hospitals struggling to find organs even in dire situations. The monopoly of organs collected around the country are directed to the best healthcare facilities in various states, thus leaving government run hospitals at a severe loss of organs and blood. To augment this struggle is the social and religious stigma that is still attached to the concept of donating organs.
Many Indian households still shy away from consenting to harvest the organs of a family member who has passed citing age old traditions and beliefs. Let us for a moment consider Hinduism in relation to organ donation. Though there seems to be no direct reference to the concept of donating organs in Hindu scriptures, the act of giving and preserving life holds utmost importance in the principle of the religion. In relation to this, the donation of one’s organs for a beneficial cause is in direct alignment with the principles of one of India’s most widely followed religions. Hinduism is only an example of such a justification and I strongly believe that no religion can value any life less.
Nationwide statistics show that every year, close to 5,00,000 people die waiting for an organ in India. With a population of 1.2 billion people (one sixth of the world’s population), the number of donor organs received per day is statistically 0.08 organs per million people. This number is negligible in comparison to countries such as USA, Germany and Netherlands which have seen a drastic increase over the years.
Over the years, many scams regarding the illegal trading of organs have been uncovered in various parts of the country. To prevent such acts of blasphemy, many NGO’s have come forward to support the government in its plan to improve the scenario for organ donors in the country. The simplicity of the process lies in the fact that any person barring age, sex and race can be a donor provided they do not present with any transmittable disease such as AIDS, Hepatitis C etc. Nationwide campaigns have been initiated and the media has been playing a major role in propagating the urgent need for donors. Valiant acts of setting up a “green corridor” to transplant organs across cities are slowly materializing and it is time that we as a country rise to the situation and actively encourage the donation of organs to preserve valuable life.
