21 people die every day while waiting for a transplant.

While almost anyone can be an organ donor, regardless of age or medical history, only a few people come out and sign up for it.

Organ donors are always in short supply. There are far more people in need of a transplant than there are people willing to donate an organ.A smaller number of organs come from healthy people.

In a government hospital for poor patients, such as AIIMS, the entire transplant and accompanying costs like pre-transplant evaluation of a patient, dialysis and so on are done free of cost. AIIMS does roughly 150-200 kidney transplants in a year and the waiting list is very long.

A few other government hospitals have a transplant programme, but they have not picked up speed due to various reasons such as shortage of trained surgeons, required infrastructure and so on.

Just about anyone, at any age, can become an organ donor. Anyone younger than age18 need to have the consent of a parent or guardian.

For organ donation after death, a medical assessment will be done to determine what organs can be donated. Certain conditions, such as having HIV , actively spreading  Cancer, or severe infection would exclude organ donation.

When you're considering becoming a living organ donor, think very carefully:

The Pros and Cons of Organ Donation

Pros. Probably the greatest benefit of organ donation is knowing that you're saving a life. That life might be your spouse, child, parent, brother or sister, a close friend, or a very grateful stranger.

Cons. Nothing.

Mythbuster: You can have an open casket funeral and It doesn’t cost a penny to donate.

“Transplantation of organs is a very complicated process, and the laws are strictly implemented. It is impossible to run an organ racket the way they are portrayed in films,” Sunil Shroff, managing trustee, MOHAN Foundation, said.

“For live donors, only blood relatives — mother, father, brother, sister or child — can donate. If the donation is from another source, then the authorities have to be convinced that it is for an altruistic purpose,” he added.

While many people back off watching the portrayal of organ donation in the bad light, it is never so if you delve a little deeper.

Claims have been made that even if there was a donor available for every patient who needed an organ, gaps in the system starting from the infrastructure required to harvest the organ and transporting it, to the prohibitive cost of the surgery would make transplant an inaccessible option for the bulk of these patients.

Heart transplant costs at least Rs 16 lakh in the private sector.

Kidney transplant with a compatible blood group costs anything between Rs 3.5 lakh and Rs 5.5 lakh

Liver transplant - the cost package could vary from Rs 18 lakh to 26 lakh depending on the centre.

However, at least in the small section of people, there is a dearth need of Organs. While people who cannot afford die of not finding a donor, others who can afford are resorting to illegal practices or other measures.

The idea of saving a life after your death excites you, Doesn’t it?

Even after you die, your organs will live in others.

1 organ donor can save 8 lives and change the lives of more than 50 people.

Sign up here:  Organ donation day

 (with agency inputs)

By Sree Teja