People participation in organ donation crucial, says Telangana Health Minister

HYDERABAD: No matter the number of steps taken by the government, people’s participation via donation is extremely necessary to provide organs to needy patients, said Health Minister T Harish Rao. Speaking at the Jeevandan programme organised by the Jayachandra Reddy Charitable Trust here on Sunday, he said, “A brain-dead person can donate heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, skin, cornea, bone tissue, heart valves, blood vessels and save as many as eight lives.”  

A total of 36 government hospitals are registered under Jeevandan (the State government’s initiative to improve organ donation). “Till now, 1,142 donations after brain death have been registered in the State since 2013. A total of 4,316 organs were collected and transplanted to those in need,” Harish said.

It must be noted that the rate of organ donation in the State is 5.08, higher than the national average of  0.6 per cent per ten lakh people. Transplant surgeries worth Rs 10 lakh have been made available free of cost to the poor by the government through the Aarogyasri scheme, the minister said.

“Many people blindly believe in certain beliefs and think organ donation is wrong. People need to understand that by donating the organs of an accidentally brain-dead person to others, one’s life ends but another journey begins in the form of another’s life,” Harish said.