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Source- This post on Organ donation in India has been created based on the article “Women outnumbered men in living organ donations last year, say government data” published in “The Hindu” on 8 August 2024.
Why in News?
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, there were 9,784 women living donors last year, compared to 5,651 men. One transgender individual also contributed, bringing the total number of living donors in 2023 to 15,436.
What is the Donor Eligibility?
i) Living Donor Criteria: Individuals over the age of 18 can donate one kidney or part of their liver.
ii) Brain Dead Donor Potential: Brain dead donors can donate multiple organs, including the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, small intestine, cornea, bone, skin, and heart valves.
iii) Post-Mortem Donations: After natural cardiac death, only tissues can be donated.
About Total Organ Transplants
1. The total number of organ transplants, including both living and deceased donors, reached 18,378 in 2023, the highest ever recorded.
2. Gender Disparity: Among deceased donors, men significantly outnumbered women, with 844 men and 255 women donating their organs.
3. Types of Transplants
i) Kidney Transplants: There were 13,426 kidney transplants from January to December.
ii) Liver Transplants: A total of 4,491 liver transplants were conducted.
iii) Heart Transplants: There were 221 heart transplants.
Facilitating Organ Donations: The Centre issued a circular to enable round-the-clock post-mortem facilities in hospitals with adequate infrastructure to facilitate organ donation in medico-legal cases, such as road accidents.
4. Awareness and Organ Donation Rate: Intensive awareness campaigns have been conducted, resulting in a notable increase in organ donations, from 4,990 in 2013.Despite these efforts, the organ donation rate remains less than one per million population.
5. Promoting Deceased Organ Donations: The Health Ministry emphasized the need to promote organ donations from deceased persons to meet the high organ demand.
State-Wise Organ Donation Data
1. Telangana led the nation in organ donation, recording 252 cadaver donors. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka followed closely, each with 178 donors.
2. In terms of kidney transplants, Delhi ranked first with 2,576 cases, while Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra reported 1,633 and 1,305 cases, respectively.
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