GURGAON: The state has seen a 22% rise in the number of people awaiting organ transplants this year compared to 2022. The number of people donating organs in the state is negligible when compared to that of patients in need of them, which skyrocketed from 46 in 2018 to 420 in 2019 (a whopping 813% rise).
While 1,144 patients were waiting for organs in 2020, the number rose to 1,521 in 2021, 2,737 in 2022 and 3,353 this year, according to the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO).
Gurgaon tops this year’s waiting list in the state with 571, followed by Faridabad (392), Ambala (256) and Panchkula (244). The maximum patients — 2,613 — are waiting for donation of one or both kidneys in Haryana, followed by liver (555), heart (88), lungs (42) and intestine (6).
According to the health department, few opt for organ donations in Haryana even though the state government and the Centre are taking a number of steps to encourage donors. “Only 10% of the state’s demand is met in private hospitals, and in all these cases, the patients bring their own donors. Lack of awareness and cadaver banks where the donated organs like bones and eyes can be stored is hampering organ donation,” an official said.
Transplant organs are predominantly retrieved from cadaveric donors, and less often from living donors. The ongoing organ shortage, due to the exceeding number of patients needing a transplant over the number of available organs, has led to the implementation of new strategies to expand the donor pool. The health department officers also agreed that though Gurgaon has emerged as a hub for liver and kidney transplantation, the donors are mostly relatives.
“We are already in the process of developing a donor pool here and have run several campaigns to raise awareness among the public. Private hospitals are handling such cases at present and we have appealed to them to create a bank for the cadaver donorsby talking to relatives of brain-dead patients and encourage them to donate the organs,” said Dr Virender Yadav, CMO, Gurgaon.
Brain stem death declaration is essential for organ donation.
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