BHUBANESWAR: AIIMS, Bhubaneswar has received a shot in the arm in its efforts to raise a movement on organ donation and establishment of an organ bank with a philanthropic organisation offering body donation pledges from 75 people to the medical institution.
This is a record in the history of AIIMS as such a large number of body donation pledges was given in a single day. The pledges were handed over to Director Prof Ashok Kumar Mohapatra by convenor Body and Organ Donation Initiative (BODI) Pravas Acharya on Tuesday.
“This is a huge milestone for us. We had launched the body donation programme in 2013 and have received 98 pledges till date. But receiving 75 pledges on a single day is a record,” Prof Mohapatra said.
The cadavers received after death of the donors will be used for education and research. Apart from teaching medical students, AIIMS, Bhubaneswar has also launched a cadaver dissection programme for training and skill development of doctors and faculty members.
AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, presently, has a state-of-the-art mortuary with an embalming centre with a capacity of handling more than 25 cadavers. It also has plans to set up an organ bank.
This is the second time a medical institution of Odisha has received such a high number of pledges in a day. In January this year, a whopping 234 body donation pledges were handed over to SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack by BODI.
However, despite growing awareness and interest for body donation among people, lack of support from the Government as well as infrastructure is pulling the efforts back. Small provisions like giving donor cards to donors and arranging transportation of dead body from the point of death to the medical colleges can go a long way.
“Despite repeated requests to the Health and Family Welfare Minister and other Government authorities, there has been no action,” Acharya rued.
He also said the Odisha Government has amended laws to make body and deceased organ donation easy and simple but lack of infrastructure is a major hindrance. While the number of body donations is growing, there is no centre in Odisha that can carry out deceased organ transplant, which is considered the most fruitful way forward globally.
Deceased organ transplantation is slowly picking up in the country from 0.16 per million people in 2012 to 0.34 per million people in 2014. As per data by Mohan Foundation, the country’s leading body donation campaigner, in 2012, around 196 transplants were conducted which has grown to 411 in 2014.
Tamil Nadu is leading efforts by conducting the highest deceased organ transplants in the country. In 2012, it conducted 83 which has risen significantly to 136 in 2014.
Surge in Donation
The cadavers received after death of the donors will be used for education and research
A cadaver dissection programme launched for training and skill development of doctors and faculty members