NEW DELHI, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Till recently, it was a taboo. But now organ donation is gradually picking up in India, with people increasingly pledging to harvest their vital body parts after their death for transplantion into persons in need.
According to medical statistics, nearly half a million people die in India every year in wait for a healthy organ.
Doctors say that though the first successful organ transplant was carried out 53 years ago in this country and less than 1,000 such procedures are performed every year, people mainly in urban areas are now shunning superstitions to save lives of others.
"There are still traditional beliefs like giving respect to a dead body and not removing its organs that prevent families from taking a decision. But the perception is changing in urban India where people are more aware these days," says M.K. Gautam, a Delhi-based cardiologist.
Organs like heart, liver and kidneys can be taken from a deceased person and replaced in a patient within four to five hours of death, according to doctors.
According to the law, if an individual does not pledge to donate their organ after deaths, then the prerogative on the decision for deceased rests with the next of kin. Lack of consent within the family often leads to loss of crucial time in retrieving and harvesting the organs.
Moreover, the Indian government itself started late in raising awareness about organ donation. The National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) was set up only in 2014 even though the Transplantation of Human Organs Act (THOA) came into effect in 1994 to provide a legal framework to the process.
It was THOA that legalized brain death, which has been one of the main reasons behind lack of consent on organ donation. After it was made legal, doctors were encouraged to urge families of a deceased to donate organs and save lives.
"When I joined the profession, I saw many people wait in vain and agony for a healthy organ. Many died waiting. At that time, during the 1980s and 90s, there was no awareness about organ transplantation and neither we were fully equipped," says Dr. Gautam.
"But today, with help of different organisations, we as doctors try to convince families of the deceased to donate the organs. It has been a very difficult journey but people are now less reluctant about it than before," he adds.
Not just people, hospitals in the country are also not fully equipped to carry out organ transplantation. This makes the procedure an expensive and exclusive process, still the prerogative of those who can afford it.
"The country only has 301 hospitals that can perform organ transplantation. This means that for approximately four million people, there is one hospital that can retrieve an organ and carry out transplantation," says Dr. Sujata Makhija, who till recently worked with one of India's leading hospital chains and now in the process of relocating to the U.S.
"Lack of infrastructure prevents us from making awareness about organ transplantation a pan-India movement. We only raise awareness where it is possible for people to see for themselves that organ transplantation is being carried out in a proper manner with full respect to their loved ones," adds Dr. Makhija.
Currently, in India, there are only five Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO). But the issue is now receiving attention. Media today carries successful stories of transplantation cases, with celebrities across the world pledging to the cause promoted widely by governmental and non-governmental organisations.
"I was 23 when my kidneys got damaged in a road accident. My life came to a halt as I went for dialysis three times a week. My family ran from pillar to post seeking a donor besides trying all treatments. After 11 years, one call from my doctors changed my life. A deceased person's family donated his kidneys. A year later, I am leading a healthy and regular life," says Ruchir Saxena, an MNC executive.
To others, donating a close family member's organ becomes a way of seeing them come to life again through the saved person.
"We were heartbroken after our 24-year-old son died in a road accident. When members of NOTTO approached us, we were too much in shock to agree immediately for donating his eyes and kidneys. But we came around in a couple of hours and today I feel happy that three people are living a healthy life because of my son. My son will live forever through them," says 58-year-old Mamta Puri, a homemaker in Delhi.
But there are miles to go before organ donation becomes a part of regular medical life in India. Doctors point to challenges such as red-tapism, lengthy paperwork and providing emotional support to family of deceased that are required to encourage more people to come forward.
