Lalita, a widow with three young children, felt the world closing in on her when doctors told her she immediately needed a kidney transplant. Fortunately, she found a donor, and 10 years later is leading a healthy and happy life with her now grown-up children. Not everyone is as lucky as her because organ donation is still a taboo and an estimated 500,000 people die each year in India because of non-availability of organs.
A measure of how popular organ donation has become in the State and city is how it has entered the technology zone – personal technology, mobile phones and social media.
The government has notified the Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Act, 2011 that allows swapping of organs and widens the donor pool by including grandparents and grandchildren in the list.
Mrithansanjeevani, the deceased organ transplantation programme started by the state health department, has so far saved 97 lives through 100 organ transplants at various hospitals in the state.
Working in a field that is constantly rocked by scandals is fraught with the risk of people eyeing it with scepticism. Yet for Lalitha Raghuram, country director, MOHAN (Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network) Foundation, working for the cause of organ donation is a passion; you can hear it in her voice when she speaks about it.
A family willingly donates the organs of a loved one, who is brain dead due to injuries sustained in a road accident, to give a new lease of life to many others waiting for vital organs.
New Delhi organized an Organ Donation Camp on 1st October, 2013. It was aimed at encouraging the youth of today to help combat a shortage of organs needed for life-saving.
More than 350 students and teachers pledged to donate their organs at an awareness programme at Shivaji College on Thursday. Many students also carried organ donation forms to home to convince their family members to join the cause.
The Times of India's campaign to create awareness about organ donation in India has found resonance among youth who have now taken upon themselves to carry the message forward. On Wednesday, more than 1,500 students of Shivaji College, Delhi University, took a walk around the campus holding placards and banners educating people about the importance of donating organs.
