Now these are hard-to-believe facts – 41 per cent Delhiites feel their family would not be comfortable with the idea of organ donation and almost half this number (21 per cent) say their religion doesn’t permit them.
Not just Delhi, even the rest of the nation doesn’t fare well on organ donation. India, where more than five lakh people die annually due to the non-availability of organs, this is alarming.
Unlike Spain, where every corpse is automatically a donor or the US that has United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) system in place, the rate of organ donation is a mere 0.3 per million population in India. It is 26 in the US and 35 in Spain.
This is due to a lack of knowledge, awareness, infrastructure and misconceptions about organ donation.
“Nearly 500,000 people die annually in India due to non-availability of organs. Much like life insurance, organ donation can also help people live a worry-free life,” says Sumit Rai, MD & CEO, Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance.
In line with its resolve to educate people on the importance of organ donation, Edelweiss observed November as Organ Donation Awareness Month.
Through the month, it conducted workshops in educational institutions to educate as well as mobilise support for the cause.
In association with Karvy Insights, it conducted a study on factors affecting people’s decision-making process regarding organ donation. Titled Life After Life: State of Organ Donation in India, the study shed light on myths and beliefs regarding organ donation.
During the study, over 1,500 people in the 20-60 age group from 12 cities, including Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities apart from metros, were interviewed. While 80 per cent of the respondents were aware of organ donation, only three per cent had registered for it. This despite the fact that 67 per cent believe it is an important thing to do and 24 per cent are willing to do so.
The tale of cities
While 90 per cent people from the eastern states are aware about organ donation, only 24 per cent are actually willing to do so and only two per cent have registered for it. This willingness drops to 15 per cent in western India.If we compare the willingness of people between smaller cities with those of metros, a nine per cent drop is seen – 30 per cent would opt for organ donation in smaller cities as compared to 21 per cent in metros. This destroys the myth that access to better healthcare system and information leads to a better understanding.
Men vs Women
Though there doesn’t exist a vast skew among male and female respondents on most parameters, the study shows that while 84 per cent males are aware of organ donation as against 75 per cent females, only 22 per cent males are willing to donate as against 26 per cent females.
What to donate and when
A majority of people do not know which organs can be donated apart from heart, kidney, liver, and eyes. They also do not know when the organs can be donated. What comes as a shock is that 26 per cent respondents believe that comatose stage makes a patient eligible for donation. The fact is a coma patient can come out of the state and hence being in coma doesn’t make a patient eligible for organ donation by default.
Family and religion
Forty-three per cent people believe their family would not be comfortable with the idea of organ donation. These concerns were far more pronounced in Patna (64 per cent), Ahmedabad (60 per cent), Chennai (59 per cent) and Delhi (41 per cent). At 20 per cent, Bangalore ranked the lowest in comparison.When it comes to religion, 20 per cent said that their religion doesn’t permit organ donation. Citizens in Jaipur are most opposed to organ donation on grounds of religion (41 per cent) while the figure is lowest for Chennai (three per cent). For Delhiites, it’s 21 per cent.
Life after life
At 39 per cent, Ahmedabad recorded the highest number of respondents who believe that in the next birth they will be born without the organ that they donate in this birth, followed by Jaipur (34 per cent) and Mumbai (32 per cent). In Delhi, 24 per cent agree with this myth. Significantly, only three per cent find truth in it in Patna.
Is it a scam?
There is a wide-spread distrust in the healthcare system. As many as 35 per cent believe that hospitals are not efficient in handling organ donation process. Sadly, 46 per cent respondents believe that organ donation is a scam in our country – the organ rackets busted over the years have added to people’s scepticism, rendering a bad aura to the process.