Youngsters continue to keep alive the organ donation drive. Many of them are increasingly getting involved by pledging their organs. In fact, some of them have turned their birthdays into an occasion to pledge their organs and get donor cards.
Data with the Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu (Transtan) show that almost 88% of the 8,500-odd persons, who have pledged their organs so far, are youngsters — aged between 18 and 35 years.
“Youngsters, particularly college students and young professionals, are showing a lot of enthusiasm for pledging organs.
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Institutions, especially arts colleges, have been approaching us to conduct awareness programmes on organ donation among the students,” said R. Kanthimathy, member secretary of Transtan. Youngsters approached Transtan’s office directly on their birthdays to pledge their organs. They filled the pledge forms and received donor cards, officials said. With the Organ Donation Day observed on August 13, Dr. Kanthimathy said they aimed to reach out to more youngsters.
As the response from arts and engineering colleges is good, they want to reach out to more colleges this year. Earlier, they conducted awareness programmes in Anna University and Madras Institute of Technology.
The overall awareness on donating organs has improved, she said, adding, “We need to do more. We need to increase awareness on organ donation and deceased donor organ transplant programme. Various government medical college hospitals and private hospitals will be conducting awareness programmes throughout this month.”
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Sunil Shroff, trustee of MOHAN Foundation, said, “We continue to get positive response from young persons,” he said. Mr. Shroff said that the need of the hour was to enable hospitals to do more donations.