Young India raises organ donation pledge from 9,000 to 15 lakh in just 2 years

The world’s first 3D-printed heart - Israeli scientists from Tel Aviv University say is the world’s first 3D-printed, vascularised engineered heart, during a demonstration at a laboratory in the university, Tel Aviv, Israel on April 15, 2019 Representative Image: ETH Zurich.

The perspective towards organ donation has improved in India and major credit for the shift goes to the youth. Youngsters are coming forward to pledge their organs, which has increased the number of registered donors from 9,000 to 15 lakh in just two years, a Times of India report stated.

Organ donation is not very popular in India as people are said to look at the process with suspicion. While countries like Spain, the US and Germany have 36, 26 and 12 donors respectively for every million citizens, India has less than one donor per million, said the statistics in the report.

However, a recent surge in pledging organs shows that the condition may improve in the future. Dr Vimal Bhandari, director of National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO), said pledging organs has seen tremendous growth recently. The process has seen a growth from 9,000 to 15 lakh in just two years, he said.

In fact, it has become one of the most effective tools to spread awareness about cadaver donation in the country, said the director.

He further credited the soldiers for this growing number, as a major portion are the young jawans serving the Border Security Force (BSF) and other police forces across the country.