On the World Organ Donors’ Day, there are over 800 people in Karnataka still waiting in the queue to get donated organs, the health department stated. The shortage of kidneys, eyes and livers have reached a peak this year, though experts state that the potential for donation of organs is high in the city.
The Karnataka Transport Department has managed to receive 4,778 pledges from new driving licence applicants in the last three months since they launched the Green Heart initiative.
However, the issue of creating awareness amongst people about pledging their organs is still glaring the state wide in the face.
“We are not doing enough today about educating people on how they can help someone in need, by merely pledging their organs. The root cause of the problem is the misuse of organ donation rules. Although the racket was busted, it has made the government very defensive,” said Dr N Prabhu Dev, Chairperson, Karnataka Health System Commission.
He added, “I am in favour of relaxing these rules, so as to make the process easier and less cumbersome for a layman to comply with.”
Further, as per the state transport department, every year nearly 1,40,000 road accidents occur. “Out of these accidents, about 67 per cent patients end up brain dead. This means that every year potentially 93,000 people can donate their organs. Each organ donor can save lives of upto seven people by donating organs such as heart, liver, lungs, kidneys and pancreas and impact upto 50 lives by way of donating tissues such as eyes, tendons, muscles and skin,” said Priyanka Shylendra, Bangalore Coordinator, Gift Your Organ Foundation.
People suffering from diabetes, invariably suffer from Kidney problems, added Dr Prabhu Dev. “There is a potential in Karnataka to donate about 2,000-3,000 kidneys each year, however, we receive only 800 on an average. For a diabetic, it is a boon to have available kidneys, livers and pancreas. Cardiac transplantations are going on as are cornea transplants. However, if there are more live organ donors pledging multiple organ donations, then many people could be saved,” he said.
Even as the state is battling for more organ donors, the Karnataka Health System Commission plans to initiate intensive awareness campaigns at all levels, to educate people about donations.
For organ donation Contact your closest RTO or Hospital to fill out a form to donate organs.