Organ donation hit by poor identi‡cation of brain death cases

Poor identication and certication of brain stem death or brain death cases is keeping the rate of organ donations at low levels in India, despite the availability of many potential cases, the Union Health Ministry has said.

Expressing concern over the rate of organ donations in the country remaining at less than one donor per million population in a year, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) asked health authorities in States/Union Territories to identify each potential brain death case admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and inquire whether the potential donor had pledged for organ donation. If not, hospital authorities should make family members aware of the opportunity to donate organs before the heart stops.

Issuing a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) under the provisions of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994, the DGHS said the doctor on duty in hospitals, with the help of the transplant coordinator, should make necessary inquiries after the brain death cases are certied by the competent authority.

Requesting every hospital to facilitate and monitor the certication of brain death cases to ensure compliance with the THOTA Act and Rules, the Health Ministry asked hospitals to install ‘Required Request Display Boards’ at strategic locations conveying the message to the public that in the unfortunate event of brain death or cardiac arrest, donation of organs and tissues — like kidney, liver, heart, pancreas, eyes, skin and bones etc. — could save lives.

Going by the transplant data, a total of 16,041 organs, mostly kidneys, were donated in 2022. Delhi topped the country with 3,818 donations.