By: Vinod Chandrashekhar Dixit
27th November is celebrated as Indian Organ Donation Day to commemorate the contributions made to society by deceased donors and their families. The main objective is to raise awareness about the importance of organ donation and encourage people to take a pledge for the same. This day strives to encourage people to donate their healthy organs after death in order to save more lives. The first-ever organ donation was done in 1954 when Ronald Lee Herrick donated a kidney to his identical twin brother. Doctor Joseph Murray conducted the procedure for which he has also won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1990 for advances in organ transplantation.
Donating organs like the kidneys, heart, pancreas, eyes, lungs, etc can help save the lives of those who are suffering from chronic illnesses. Numerous people lose their lives due to the unavailability of healthy organs that could save them. This day aims to help people realise that volunteering to donate their organs after death can be life-changing for many. The term organ donation means donating one’s organs that are in healthy condition after a person dies. Organs including kidneys, heart, pancreas, eyes, lungs, and liver can be donated to save people who are suffering from any chronic illnesses. By observing World Organ Donation Day, people around the world will realise that volunteering to donate their organs after death can be life-changing for many who are patiently waiting. The day also focuses on sensitising and motivating people towards assuring them to donate organs and save more lives. Organ transplantation is nothing less than a miracle of the twentieth century, which has improved lives of hundreds of thousands of patients worldwide. An organ donor could save up to 8 lives and enhance the lives of more than 100 people through tissue donation. Organ donation is a social act and it’s considered to be an honour. Organ donation can happen from a brain-dead owner or a living donor.
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One person can save up to eight lives from chronic illness by pledging to donate their heart, kidney, pancreas, lungs, liver, intestines, hands, face, tissues, bone marrow, and stem cells. Donating one’s organs is giving someone a new life; anyone can volunteer to be an organ donor irrespective of their age, caste, and religion. Nearly 5 lakh people die in India every year for want of organs, while 2 lakh people die of liver disease, 50,000 of heart diseases. Of the 1.5 lakh people awaiting kidney transplant, only 5,000 get one. The emergence and spread of Covid-19 has brought great challenges to the healthcare system. While the country has lost hundreds of thousands to the illness, the effect on those suffering from non-Covid illnesses has been equally profound. The gift of an organ is like a gift of life. But, organ donation is not widely known or understood yet. Thus, people may feel that only the heart or liver, or kidneys can be donated. But, organ donation is much more than that. There is no age limit for this act of gifting life to the one in need. Organ donation has no age criteria. There are two systems for organ donation practiced worldwide, the family consent system and the presumed consent system. Organ donation from deceased donors is slowly gaining momentum in India.
Organ donation is a helpful act by the donor that can help in saving a life of a person and also could help in improving the quality of life for many individuals. Organ transplantation is one of the greatest achievements that modern science has been able to accomplish. (The author is a freelance journalist, writer & a cartoonist. He can be reached at dixitpatrakar@yahoo.in)
