Organ Donation Day: Donate your organs , give a ‘gift of life’

World Organ Donation Day is observed globally on August 13 every year. This day is celebrated to raise awareness about the importance of organ donation and motivate people to donate organs after death.

Organ donation simply means, retrieving a donor’s organ like heart, liver, kidneys, intestines, lungs and pancreas, after the donor is deceased, and then transplanting into another person who is in need of an organ.

World Organ Day provides an opportunity to all to come ahead and pledge to donate their precious organs because one organ donor can save up to eight lives.

According to a report by The Print, only 0.65 donations per million population take place in India, compared to 35 in Spain and 26 in the US.

Only if India reaches a 1 per million donation rate, it would almost meet current demands for organs.

Can you be an organ donor?

There is no restriction with regard to organ donation. Everyone should consider themselves as possible organ and tissue donors-irrespective of age, health, and race. No one is too old or too young to be a deceased donor. There have been instances where newborns and even senior citizens into their 90s have been potential organ donors.

Even people with an illness would be able to donate organs or tissues upon death, where the doctors would examine the organs and determine whether they are suitable for donation. Conditions like active cancer or systemic infection will totally inhibit a person from becoming a donor.

The medical condition of the person at the time of death can determine what organs and tissues can be donated and what not.

The approximate amount of time between recovering the tissues/organs and transplanting them is:

• Lung – 4 to 6 hours
• Heart – 4 hours
• Liver – 24 hours
• Pancreas – 24 hours
• Kidney – 72 hours
• Cornea – 14 days
• Bones – 5 years
• Skin – 5 year
• Heart Valves – 10 years

COVID-19 and its impact on organ donation

As per reports, organ donations in India came to a halt with the COVID-19 pandemic. The organ transplantation programme was temporarily suspended during the lockdown as a measure to avert the spread of COVID-19.

According to Global Alliance for Eye Banking (GAEB), currently, there is no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 viruses can be transmitted via blood transfusions or tissue transplants. With regard to cornea transplant recipients, there is no risk, as they do not need blood group matching or oral medication to lower their immunity to avert rejection.

As per the data released in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in 2019, 1.5-2 lakh people require kidney transplants annually but only about 8,000 (4 percent) patients receive them.

In a 2019 report in The Hindu, only 3 percent of the population across 12 cities in the country have registered to donate organs.

Ones who wish to become organ donors need to register themselves on online portals like the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO), Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (ROTTO), or the Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation (ORBO).