Lok Sabha Parliamentary Q & A on Organ Donation & Transplantation
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
LOK SABHA
STARRED QUESTION NO 527
ANSWERED ON 03.05.2013
ORGAN DONATION RATE
527. Shri RANJAN PRASAD YADAV
Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:-
(a) whether the organ donation rate in the country is low as compared to certain countries of the world;
(b) if so, the details thereof along with the reasons for the poor organ donation rate;
(c) the number of cases of organ transplant including kidney transplant pending in the Central Government hospitals and its associated hospitals including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences due to non-availability of organs indicating the period of pendency, hospitalwise; and
(d) the corrective measures being taken by the Government in this regard?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (SHRI GHULAM NABI AZAD)
(a)to(d): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.527 FOR 3RD MAY, 2013
(a) Yes, Madam.
(b) The data on organ donation from deceased persons per million population for 2011, compiled by the Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation for different countries, indicate that the Organ Donation Rate is the highest in Spain, which is about 35 per million population, whereas the organ donation rate as estimated for India in the year 2011 is 0.32 per million population.
Following reasons have been recognized for poor organ donation rate in India :
# Poor Awareness and attitude of people towards organ donation # Religious misconceptions # Insufficient Infrastructural Facilities and Manpower for successful brain death certification, retrieval, transportation, storage and transplantation of organs. # Lack of Networking and Organized structure for coordinating procurement and distribution of organs # Lack of Coordinated Trauma Care for organ donation # Difficulties in retrieval of organs in medico-legal cases # Economic reasons: Cost of maintenance of Brain stem dead persons till the organs are removed # Poor participation by the transplant centres for brain death certification and coordination for organ donation.
(c) As per information received from AIIMS, 135 kidney transplants were done in 2012, of which 125 were living donor transplant and 10 cases were deceased donor transplant. For persons who have a living- related donor, waiting time is approximately 3-4 months. Patients who do not have living-related donor have to wait for deceased donor.
(d) Government of India has enacted the Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Act, 2011. Some of the important amendments under this Act for improving the organ donation rate are:-
a. Provision of ‘Retrieval Centres’ for retrieval of organs from cadavers/deceased donors and their registration under the amended Act.
b. Brain death certification committee has been simplified.
c. Mandatory ‘Transplant Coordinator’ for coordinating all matters including informing relatives of ICU patient and obtaining option for removal or transplantation of human organs.
d. National Human Organs and Tissues Removal and Storage Network at one or more places and Regional network
e. National Registry of Donors and Recipients
f. Removal of eye has been permitted by a trained technician to facilitate eye donation.
The Draft Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules 2013 have been finalized and comments from Public have been invited. Once the Rules are finalized, the provisions in the amendment Act will be brought into force.
To create awareness for organ donation, Indian Organ Donation Day is celebrated in the month of November every year since the year 2010. Recently, the third Indian Organ Donation Day was organized on 30th November 2012 at Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi. Awareness activities are carried out in the events like India International Trade fair to spread the message of Deceased Organ Donation among the public.
Regional `Organ Donation Awareness workshops` have been organized in coordination with State Governments during 2011-2012 in the cities of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Puducherry, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune, Chandigarh, & Trivendrum for increasing the awareness among public for organ donation.
Organ Retrieval Banking Organization at AIIMS has been registering the persons who pledge to donate their organs after death.
The National Informatics Centre has been assigned the task of developing online system, with a dedicated website for establishing networks for retrieval of organs and their allocation/distribution. The NIC is also in the process of developing a National Registry of donors and recipients.
It has been decided to set up National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) encompassing National Human Organ and Tissue Removal and Storage Network and National Biomaterial Center/Tissue Bank at Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi.
