The innate benevolence of the fair sex touched a new high as Ahmedabad's women celebrated International Women's Day by promising to donate their organs to save others' lives.
Women in large numbers pledged their organs on March 8. The innate benevolence of the fair sex touched a new high as the Ahmedabad's women celebrated International Women's Day by promising to donate their organs to save others' lives.
Shatayu, an NGO, which is working towards raising awareness of the importance of organ donation, had set up a 200-capacity temporary auditorium at Swaminarayan Museum, SG Road to show short documentaries on the subject. As many as 1600 people took the pledge for multi-organ donation and 900 women pledged the same.
Deepak Patel, a heart transplant patient who has founded the NGO said, "From the total 1600 potential donors who have registered at Shatayu and pledged their organs, 900 are women. They have pledged their two kidneys, liver and eyes for people who need it." 985 registrations are made from March 5 to 17 and out of this, 635 were made by women, informed Bhavna Chhabaria, prime co-ordinator of Shatayu.
It is roughly estimated that 6000 kidney transplants are done in the country annually and from this only 200 are procured via cadaveric organ donations.
"If the cadaveric donations rate is pushed a little higher, we can save many lives," added Chhabaria.
Human organ donation, which was established in India in 1994, is an endeavour that aims to save lives. Unfortunately, 16 years after the country passed the Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994, only kidney donations by live donors are being carried out -- cadaveric donations have not yet picked up.
At present out of the 1,50,000 patients needing kidney transplants across India annually, only 200 get them by way of donations from the deceased.
"To bridge this gap, we have started various awareness drives to promote cadaveric donations in the state," said Patel.
Swaminarayan leaders are also supporting the cause which has helped to erase the belief that religion does not permit organ donation, added Patel.
The recent estimate portrays an alarming rise in requirement for organ transplants in both state and country.
According to statistics, every three minutes a patient is added to the list of people requiring a transplant in the country. "And to meet this rising demand, raising awareness regarding cadaveric organ donation is the only option," explained Chhabaria.
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