Health Minister T Harish Rao on Sunday felicitated the families of organ donors at Gandhi Medical College on the occasion of National Organ Donation Day. The Minister honoured families of 162 people who donated their organs and saved the lives of others.
Speaking at the event, Mr. Harish Rao said, “Organ donors are the real heroes. It is a noble gesture to save others’ lives even while losing their family members. Such families are an inspiration to many. Many people get a re-birth after organ donation; even though they are not alive, their organs give life to others. One donor can save the lives of eight persons. Knowing this fact, I urge all the people to come forward and pledge their organs for donation. Be it government or private hospitals, Telangana is the best performing State across the whole country in terms of organ donation. After the ‘Jeevandan’ scheme was launched by the State government, officials from States like Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat, Odisha and Karnataka along with the Central government have started the policy. Through the scheme, which was started in 2013, till now 1,142 donations have been made from brain-dead people and a total of 4,316 organs collected and transplanted to those in need. While the country’s overall donation rate is 0.6 percent per 10 lakh people, it is 5.08 percent per 10 lakh people in Telangana. As of this year, Telangana tops the list with 179 organ donations, followed by Gujarat at 126, Karnataka at 114 and Maharashtra at 80.”
Even after that, there are still 3,180 recipients registered on Jeevandan from across the State who are waiting for organs. The government is taking all kinds of measures to make sure they receive the organs on time and their lives are saved. In districts, if a person is declared brain dead, then the government if needed will provide helicopter services either to bring the patient to Hyderabad for organ donation or send specialists there and extract the organs to bring it back to Hyderabad. Mr. Harish Rao also said that soon an organ transplant centre will be set up at GandhI Hospital, for which the government has spent about ₹ 35 crore, the tender process has been completed and within the next 5-6 months the centre will be operational. To further encourage organ donation, the government is thinking of providing free admissions to the children of the donors in State residential schools and allotting 2-bedroom houses to those who do not have homes. The government will soon act on this.
