HYDERABAD: Telangana’s No. 2 ranking in the country in organ donation masks a sharp imbalance: nearly 97% of deceased organ donations in the state are being contributed by corporate hospitals, while the state’s network of government hospitals and medical colleges has made little contribution to the programme.
Ahead of World Organ Donation Day on Thursday, health experts said Telangana had emerged as one of the leading states in organ donation when measured against its population, but the programme remained largely concentrated in Hyderabad. They called for deceased organ donation and organ-retrieval facilities to be expanded to districts, with greater participation from state-run hospitals.
The dependence on corporate hospitals is particularly striking given Telangana’s large network of state-run medical colleges and hospitals. Experts said the public health system needed to play a much larger role in identifying potential donors, retrieving organs and facilitating transplants.
Unlike Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, where deceased organ donation has spread to several cities and districts, Telangana continues to depend heavily on a handful of hospitals in Hyderabad. Experts said facilities in Warangal, Karimnagar, Nizamabad and Nalgonda could be developed as additional organ-retrieval and transplant centres.
The gap between the number of donors and demand for organs remains wide. Nearly 8,000 people are waiting for organ transplants in Telangana, with kidneys accounting for a large share of the demand.
“Telangana ranking second in the country in organ donation is a matter of pride, but greater public awareness and more donors are still needed to bridge the gap between demand and availability,” said Dr CH Uma Maheshwara Rao, consultant urologist and renal transplant surgeon, KIMS Hospitals, Secunderabad.
He said Hyderabad had emerged as a major transplant hub, but thousands of patients continued to wait for organs, particularly kidneys, as the burden of diabetes, hypertension and chronic kidney disease increased.
The state also has a relatively small pool of registered organ donors. Telangana has fewer than 25,000 organ donation pledges, while states such as Maharashtra have recorded several lakh pledges, according to health experts.
Dr Sree Bhushan Raju, professor and head of nephrology at NIMS, said increasing the number of pledges alone would not be enough unless more hospitals were equipped to participate in deceased organ donation and transplantation.
“My appeal is simple: more people should pledge their organs, and more state-run hospitals and medical colleges should actively participate in deceased organ donation and transplantation. This is essential to save the lives of thousands of patients waiting for organs,” Dr Raju said.
He said public awareness needed to improve, with students, university authorities, bureaucrats, politicians and celebrities playing a role in promoting organ donation.
“If people are aware of the importance of organ donation before a tragedy occurs, families may be better prepared to make the difficult decision to donate the organs of their loved ones,” he said.
Dr Uma Maheshwara Rao said misconceptions about organ donation, including fears about disfigurement and funeral rites, also needed to be addressed.
Experts said the expansion of organ donation should also be accompanied by strict adherence to allocation rules. Political or personal recommendations should not be used to seek preferential or early transplantation, with allocation following the law and established medical protocols.
