NEW DELHI: India recorded its highest-ever number of transplants in 2025, but experts on Friday said the country continues to face a severe shortage of donor organs, leaving tens of thousands of patients waiting, often for years and sometimes in vain.
On the occasion of World Organ Donation Day, experts said the country's organ donation rate remains below 1% of its population.
According to Dr Saurabh Singhal, Senior Consultant and Director, Centre for Liver-GI Diseases and Transplantation (CLDT) at Aakash Healthcare, "The rise from under 5,000 transplants a decade ago to over 20,000 last year shows what better infrastructure, awareness, and coordination between hospitals can achieve."
"However, we are still meeting only a fraction of the actual need. For every patient who receives a transplant, several more remain on the waiting list, and many will not survive the wait," Dr Singhal added.
As per official estimates, the country recorded 20,138 organ transplants last year, a four-fold rise in a little over a decade.
However, more than 73,000 people need kidney transplants, while over 200 people died waiting for a kidney transplant in 2025. As many as 22,000 people need liver transplants in the country.
Experts across specialties said the record numbers reflect real progress, but cautioned that India is still a long way from meeting demand.
Dr Rohit Kaushal, Director and Head - Urology, Robotics, Kidney Transplantation and Uro-Oncology, Asian Hospital, Faridabad, said, "What is encouraging is that this growth has not happened by accident. It has come alongside stronger regulatory frameworks, like the new national guidelines on brain-stem death certification and swap transplantation. Standardising these processes across states was long overdue, and it is already helping more hospitals run credible transplant programmes."
Public health experts point to persistent misconceptions as one of the biggest barriers to closing the gap between demand and supply.
Religious and cultural apprehensions may also discourage families from consenting to donation, despite the fact that no major religion in India prohibits the practice.
Dr Bipin Vibhute, Consultant and Program Director, Liver Transplant and HPB Surgery, Jupiter Hospital, Pune, said, "In our experience counselling families, the hesitation comes from a lack of correct information. Every major faith practised in India supports organ donation as an act of compassion. Once families understand that, the conversation changes completely. We need many more of these conversations happening at the community level, not just in hospitals."
Experts said myths about how donation or transplantation affects a patient's physical and reproductive health also prevent people from coming forward, both as donors and as recipients considering treatment.
Dr Vineet Malhotra, Head of Urology, VNA Hospital, said, "Organ transplantation is not just about extending life; it is about restoring quality of life. For many male patients, a successful transplant can improve energy, hormonal health, and overall sexual function. At the same time, misconceptions that organ donation affects masculinity or reproductive health need to be actively dispelled, as they have no scientific basis."
"We often see patients and families worry that donating an organ, particularly a kidney, will compromise fertility. This is not supported by evidence. A healthy donor who is properly evaluated and cleared for surgery does not face reduced fertility as a result of donation. Clearing up this specific fear can meaningfully increase the number of willing living donors," he added.
Dr Archana Dhawan Bajaj, Founder and Director, The Nurture IVF Centre, said, "From a woman's health standpoint, the biggest gap is simply awareness. Many women who could safely be living donors are never even approached because of assumptions about their health or family responsibilities. That needs to change, and organ donation should be discussed as openly with women as it is with men."
