A Guinness World Record for the most number of people to sign up as organ donors in a single hour was broken at a programme held to mark the 70th birthday of A.P. Assembly Speaker Kodela Siva Prasada Rao here on Tuesday. Dr Rao himself led the way by signing up as the first donor.
Adjudicator from the Guinness World Records Swapnil declared that a new record was created after 11,987 people signed up as donors in just an hour after the programme began at 10.37 a.m.
The earlier record was held by a college in Coimbatore which registered 6,697 organ donors in one hour in 2016.
The Guinness World Record certificate was handed over to Dr Rao in the presence of Vice-Chancellor of the NTR Health University Ravi Raju and VC, JNTU. It was a collective exhibition of humanism as thousands of people lined up at the stadium to pledge their organs. People from different places joined in the noble act of pledging their organs, probably to strangers whom they would never meet in their lives.
At a time when awareness on organ donation is still not so high, it was a touching moment to see the spontaneous response.
“Organ donation is the greatest gift that man can give to others and in a way, he lives for another 20/25 years after his death. Organ donation is the only way by which a man can live after his death and help others,’’ Dr Rao said.
