VISAKHAPATNAM: The state government is all set to establish the Andhra Pradesh unit of Jeevandan, through an organ bank at Vijayawada shortly, to encourage organ donations across the state. The scheme was launched in 2011 by the government to provide organs for patients in need.
The NTR University of Health Sciences will handle the portal and establish a network of hospitals across the state to play a major role in gathering organs and the list of organ donors, and arrange organs to patients who are in dire need of transplantations.
Participating in an awareness programme organised by Care Hospitals on the occasion of ‘World Organ Donation Day’ here Monday, health minister Kamineni Srinivas pledged to be an organ donor, and appealed to the people, especially the kin of brain dead patients to come forward for the cause and save the needy.
“The awareness about organ donation is very low in the country. Only 0.16 percent per 10 lakh Indians donated their organs in the previous year, while more than five lakh people are losing their lives due to shortage of organs,” he said.
Explaining the scarcity of organ donors, Care Hospitals director (medical) Mohan Maharaj said that many people are being left to die due to lack of organs. Underlining the importance of organ donation, he said that around 250 people die in road mishaps across the country everyday. “Even if the families of these patients agree for organ donations, there is a chance to save more than 40 per cent of people in the country,” he added.