Organ donations are abysmally low in India

Shocking statistics have come to the fore of the appalling state of organ donations in the country. Over 2.5 lakh deaths are attributed to organ failure annually while cadaver donations (where an organ is taken from a brain dead person) are abysmally low in the country, according to a study carried by a leading newspaper. India’s organ donation rate stood at a paltry 0.8 per million population in 2016 compared to Spain’s 36 per million and US’ 26 per million. Of the 85,000 liver failure patients who are registered for transplants annually, less than three per cent get the organ. Of the two lakh annual registrations for kidneys, 8,000 manage to get a transplant. Of heart or lung patients a bare one per cent get an organ transplant before time runs out. All this is despite a fourfold increase in organ donations in the last five years on India. Apparently, the demand is far greater than the supply.

The study has pointed out that only 10 states and two Union territories have an active donation and transplant programme. Shockingly, the country’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh is yet to make a beginning. Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana and Gujarat currently lead the way, as per the study. Pune has recently emerged as a high-donation centre. Eastern India has a poor record with most states not having conducted cadaver donations at all. Only seven cadaver donations, including five in 2016 have taken place in West Bengal since 2012. Clearly, there is a terrible lack of awareness among people and while Karnataka has shown the way by linking Aadhaar cards to pledging organ donations, there is a general lack of publicity to the cause of organ donations. In Kerala, a doctor filed a PIL in the high court alleging that hospitals are falsely declaring brain deaths to procure organs. This led to negative propaganda in the social media and led to people shying away from donating organs. Elsewhere, there are cases of people wanting to donate organs but unable to do so because the hospital or the city itself lacked the infrastructure to retrieve organs. Some myths and misconceptions also play a role in hampering organ donations across the country.