KOCHI: As part of the World Liver Day on Tuesday, Bollywood Actor and humanitarian Sonu Sood is joining hands with Aster Volunteers to raise awareness on liver disease and help children in need of a transplant. As many as 50 underprivileged children will receive care at Aster Hospitals’ Multi-Organ Transplant Centre at Aster CMI and Aster RV hospitals in Bengaluru, and Aster Medcity and Aster MIMS Hospital Calicut in Kerala.
Aster Volunteers is a global CSR programme by Aster DM Healthcare to raise awarneness about the alarming hike in liver disease cases in India and take proactive efforts to manage their liver health. According to doctors, liver failure due to unavailability of a viable organ donors is one of the main causes of death from liver disease.
In India, liver disease claims over two lakh lives every year, while only 1,500-2,000 transplants are conducted annually. Around 10 per cent of this are for children. One of the key reasons for this is the high cost of transplants. Llimited universal healthcare access and availability of viable donors are also challenges. “We need to ccome together to raise awareness and help the needy. I hope my voice will reach families whose children are awaiting liver transplants but haven’t been able to,” said Sonu Sood.