Kerala leads the way, with 35,000 pledges from the village of Pootharakkal

The number of organ pledges in the country has seen a dramatic surge over the last year, from 9,000 in 2015 to 1.25 lakh this year (a 14-fold increase). Kerala leads the way among States, with 35,000 pledges from the single village of Pootharakkal.

‘Soldiers, an inspiration’

National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) director Vimal Bhandari told The Hindu on Saturday that about 8,000 pledges were made by BSF and CRPF soldiers, who have now become an “inspiration for organ donation”.

On the sidelines of a conference on liver diseases and transplantation here, Dr. Bhandari said NOTTO had set a target of collecting 15 lakh pledges by the year-end. “We are working closely with non-governmental organisations to intensify awareness on organ donation. Over 10 lakh pledges have been mobilised through Ganadarpan, a NGO in Kolkata,” he said.

Another 2.5 lakh pledges were being collected through organisations such as Organ India, Mohan Foundation, and Yes Bank, Dr. Bhandari said.

“We are keen on developing a national registry of transplants and wait list of organs to know the demand-supply situation and plan. However, not all States are submitting data and this is a matter of concern,” Mr. Bhandari said.

Currently, 301 hospitals that were transplant centres in the country were registered with NOTTO, and 150 of these from 13 States regularly updated data regarding wait lists and organ transplantations, he said. Data on the remaining, however, was little known.

Incentives for staff

Pointing out that organ retrieval centres should be set up in every government medical college in districts to promote cadaveric donations, Dr. Bhandari said NOTTO had submitted a proposal to the Union Health Ministry to give incentives to the hospital staff and doctors for identifying brain death cases and counselling them to donate.