‘Don’t take your organs to heaven, for heaven knows we need them here’
About Organ Donation Day
Organ Donation Day in India is celebrated on 13th of August every year by the people, government organizations and other related professions in order to motivate normal human beings to donate the organs as well as to understand the value of organ donation in the life of an individual. The organ donor can be anyone of which the organ can be transplanted to the patient urgently require. The organ donated by the normal human being is saved properly to transplant into the patient whenever he or she require. One can get the new life through the organ transplantation donated by someone.
‘One organ donor can save 8 lives and enhance many more lives through organ donation and tissues donation.’
Organ transplantation can be a life saving surgery to people who die due to failure of one major organ of the body. This means that when an organ donor donates organs, he or she will actually donate life.
One organ donor can save 8 lives and enhance many more lives through organ donation and tissues donation.
Organ Donation Day is also an occasion to honor medical researchers who have worked tirelessly not only to transplant organs, but also to help the body accept the newly replaced organ with immunosupperssive drug and various ways to preserve the organs that would be removed from the body.
Objectives of Organ Donation Day:
- To create awareness about the need for organ donation
- To create awareness about the procedure of registration for organ donation
- To spread the message of organ donation across the country
- To raise above the inhibitions and religious beliefs and stress the importance of donating organs to save lives
- To honor the organ donors
What can a living person donate?
Blood
Kidney
Bone marrow
Portion of lungs
Portions of liver
Portions of pancreas
What can be donated after natural death
Eyes
Heart valves
Bones and tendons
Skin and fascia
Veins and arteries
Cartilage
Kidneys
Donation after brain death
Liver
Pancreas
Voice box
Ovaries
Lungs
Hands
Small intestine
Uterus
Face
Eyes
Middle ear bones
Skin
Bones
Cartilage
Tendons
Nerves
Veins and arteries
Fingers and toes
Transplantation — Average time taken
Lungs: 6 hours
Heart: 6 hours
Liver: 12 hours
Pancreas: 24 hours
Kidney: 48 hours
Who can donate?
Every adult can be an organ donor. If parents give consent, even children can be organ donors. A donor can donate:
Upto 100 years: Corneas, skin
Upto 70 years: Kidneys, liver
Upto 50 years: Heart, lungs
Upto 40 years: Heart valves
Organ & Tissue Donation Statistics from India
Corneal donation is the most common tissue donation and kidney the most common organ donation in India. Government law on “The Transplantation of Human Organs Act” in 1994 has curbed illegal organ transplantation and accepted brain death as form of death to make more organs available. Since 2012 the organ donation after brain death has gone up three times from 196 donations to 570 donations in 2015.
Deceased organ donation statistics – 2015
| Oct 2008 to Jun 30, 2016 | |
| Donors From Tamil Nadu | 823 |
| Heart | 225 |
| Liver | 772 |
| Lung | 120 |
| Small Bowel | 2 |
| Kidney | 1501 |
| Pancreas | 9 |
| Total Major organs | 2629 |
| Blood Vessels | 2 |
| Heart Valve | 676 |
| Cornea | 1254 |
| Skin | 40 |
| Total Organs | 4601 |
| (Source – http://www.dmrhs.org/tnos) | |
Tamil Nadu has been a leader in the field of both corneal and deceased donation rate and numbers in the country.
Online organ sharing registry for deceased donation and transplantation is available in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. This can be used by people all over India and ensures fair use of donated organs and allotment according to the priority of the recipients.
Some of the NGO’s and organizations where one can contact regarding organ donation are:
- MOHAN Foundation
- Dadhichi Mission
- Gift Your Organ Foundation
- Shatayu
- Gift A Life
Organ Donor Card ensures the consent of the donor of his or her organs after death. This facility is provided by MOHAN Foundation to create awareness and get pledge for organ donation.
Organ Donation – Myths & Facts
Myth: My family has to take care of payments to remove my organs for donation.
Fact: Once death occurs, expenses for the organ donation are taken care of by the organization and the donor’s family will not be charged.
Myth: My religion does not permit organ donation.
Fact: All religions support the concept of saving life and consider it as a noble act. Organ donation is like any other generous offering done at the place of worship.
Myth: I am too young for organ donation.
Myth: If I donate most of my organs, my body will be mutilated and not returned properly to my family.
Fact: Organs that are donated are removed with minimal possible surgical procedures. Adequate sutures and clothing will be provided to make normal funeral arrangements.
Fact: Children under 18 years of age require the permission of their parents or legal guardians to authorize the consent. Child recipients require smaller organs than adults.
Myth: I am too old for organ donation.
Fact: Organ donation does not have any age limit. People as old as 90 years can donate many of their organs.
Myth: I have a serious medical illness. Will my organs cause problems to the recipient?
Fact: The team that coordinates the donation will consider the medical history of the donor and determine the suitability of the donated organ.
Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran said ~
‘..You give but little when you give of your wealth
You truly give when you give of yourself’
So give a bit of yourself and save lives and in the process extend your life through this noble act of organ donation.
Go online today and pick up your donor card by using this link –http://www.mohanfoundation.org/download_donorcard.asp
References:
- http://www.mohanfoundation.org
- https:organdonationday.in/index.php/about/faq
- http://www.indiacelebrating.com/events/organ-donation-day/
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Organ donation– (https:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_donation)
