CHENNAI: With many a patients, all over the world, battling for their lives because of terminal organ failures, organ donation holds a special place in humanitarian deeds. One not only does provide the other with a better quality of life, but also with a will to live. With the ongoing pandemic and its woes continuing to batter humankind, a “best State award” for organ donation is something to be proud of for Tamil Nadu.
This is the sixth consecutive year of Tamil Nadu being crowned the best State in the category, by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. State Health Minister C Vijayabaskar and Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan received the award online on Friday from the Union Minister for Health, Harsh Vardhan, and MoS Ashwin Kumar Choubey.
Thanking Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami for his support to the organ donation programme, Vijayabaskar said, “The award is dedicated to the families of the organ donors, who even amid their grief and loss of their loved ones, came forward to donate.” He added that it is because of the hard work and efforts put in by the transplant surgeons, the State transplant authority (TRANSTAN) and others, that the State has been able to bag the top spot for the past six years.
“Even during the pandemic, the State did a total of 183 live renal transplants and about 107 liver transplants. Tamil Nadu stands first not only in cadaver organ donation, but also plasma and blood donations,” the minister said, adding that air ambulances too will be launched soon for the purpose and works towards that have been expedited. The Union Minister also praised the State for performing six lung transplants on those patients whose lungs were completely damaged due to Covid-19, said Vijayabaskar.
Further, to encourage organ donation among the masses, Vijaya baskar said that the health department had made an appeal to the Chief Minister to bring the families of donors in the jobs priority list, similar to what is given to families of ex-servicemen and sports personalities. This representation was also made to the Union Health Ministry to consider them in the list of Central government jobs. The 11th Indian Organ Donation Day was observed at the DMS campus in Chennai.