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August 13, 2024 – New Delhi: On World Organ Donation Day, leading medical experts have raised alarms over India’s severe organ wastage crisis, attributing it to a lack of awareness, deep-rooted superstitions, and persistent myths about organ donation. This crisis leads to the annual loss of approximately 200,000 kidneys and other vital organs, a staggering number that highlights the country’s challenges in bridging the gap between organ demand and supply.
World Organ Donation Day, observed every year on August 13, serves as a reminder of the importance of organ donation and the urgent need to dispel the myths that hinder this life-saving practice. Despite ongoing awareness efforts, India’s cadaver organ donation rate remains abysmally low—standing at less than one per million people. In comparison, Western nations boast donation rates as high as 70-80% from deceased donors.
“India faces a severe organ wastage crisis, losing approximately 2 lakh kidneys and other vital organs annually due to a lack of awareness, deep-rooted superstitions, and myths surrounding brain death,” said Dr. Tanima Das Bhattacharya, Consultant Nephrologist & Kidney Transplant Specialist at Narayana Health, Kolkata, in a statement to IANS. Dr. Bhattacharya further highlighted that the issue is compounded by the inadequate identification and certification of brain deaths in hospitals, which significantly reduces the country’s organ donation rates despite the availability of potential donors.
The situation remains dire even with recent directives from the Union Health Ministry aimed at improving the documentation of brain stem deaths. The current cadaver organ donation rate is alarmingly low—less than one donor per million population per year.
“In a country as populous as India, it is a tragic irony that thousands of life-saving organs go to waste each year,” stated Dr. Rajesh Aggarwal, Director of Nephrology & Kidney Transplant at Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute, Delhi. “The gap between the number of available organs and the patients in need is vast, and the wastage of viable organs due to logistical and systemic challenges is a critical issue that demands immediate attention.”
Experts agree that a multi-pronged approach is essential to address this crisis. Dr. Suganthi Iyer, Director of Legal and Medical Affairs at P.D. Hinduja Hospital and Medical Research Centre, emphasized the need to raise awareness among healthcare professionals and the public, particularly in rural areas, about organ donation post-brain stem death. “Increasing the number of hospitals registered as Non-Transplant Organ Retrieval Centers (NTORC) is crucial. Focused training for healthcare workers and community outreach can further help curb wastage,” Dr. Iyer added.
Drawing comparisons with global practices, Dr. Bhattacharya suggested that India should consider adopting the Spanish model, which includes organ donations from Donors after Circulatory Death (DCD). This approach, successfully implemented by Spain’s Organizacion Nacional de Transplantes (ONT), has dramatically increased the country’s organ donation rates and could hold similar potential for India.
Infrastructure improvements, streamlined organ transport protocols, and ensuring that every potential donor’s gift is honored by minimizing delays in transplantation were also cited as critical measures. The window for retrieving and transplanting organs from a brain-dead patient is extremely narrow—just 12 hours—making seamless coordination and rapid action imperative.
“With every organ that is not transplanted in time, we lose the chance to save multiple lives,” Dr. Aggarwal warned. “It is imperative for us to strengthen our organ retrieval and transplantation networks.”
To bridge the significant gap between organ demand and supply, Dr. Bhattacharya called for the implementation of a comprehensive and centralized organ donation registry, revisions to existing laws, and the launch of extensive awareness campaigns. These steps, she noted, would encourage more organ pledges and facilitate easier organ harvesting procedures, ultimately saving countless lives.
As India continues to grapple with the challenges of organ wastage, the experts’ calls for urgent reform on World Organ Donation Day underscore the critical need for collective action to address this life-and-death issue.
