Despite Centre's efforts, number of cadaver donors decline

The Union government's efforts to boost cadaver donation (comprising organ donation) in the country seems to have not gone down well as the number of donations have decreased in the past year.

In 2016, 807 cadavers were donated of which 34 were from the national Capital. The figure reduced to 775 in 2017 with Delhi reporting 22 cases. No donations have been in 2018 made so far.

According to the data provided by National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO), a total of 61 kidneys were donated in the National Capital Region (NCR) in 2016, while only 45 were received in 2017. The cases of heart and liver donations have also seen a decline.

"A strong nation-wide mechanism is required so that major organs from brain-dead persons could immediately be made available to needy patients. The gap between the needy and the donor cannot be bridged unless organs are taken from brain-dead patients," said a senior official from the Union Health Ministry.

The number of liver and heart donations in 2016 were 34 and 19 respectively which moved to 22 and 10 in 2017. One bone donation was also made last year.

"We are conducting rigorous awareness programme, along with counsellor training, and retrieval training for surgeons. University programmers for both medical and non-medical students are in place too. The numbers are sure to rise," says Dr Vimal Bhandari, Director, NOTTO.

The government has taken a series of measures to promote cadaver organ donations and has implemented National Organ Transplant Programme (NOTP) as well. A National Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplant Registry have also been set up that is available to all the states.

A 24x7 call centre with a toll-free helpline number (1800114770) has been set up as well. In addition, cadaver donor family members are honoured on various occasions including Indian Organ Donation Day organised every year.

Every week 2,000-2,500 pledges are received from the Armed Forces. 80,000 pledges have been registered from Border Security Forces.