- Amid a shortage of cadavers for academic and research purposes at medical colleges, the Union Health Ministry has appealed to States and Union Territories to encourage body donations in cases of deaths occurring outside hospitals.
- The Director-General of Health Services noted that while the government is committed to promoting organ donation to save lives, organ donations are typically feasible only from patients certified as brain stem dead before the heart stops.
- However, this is often not possible when deaths occur outside hospitals, during cardiac events before ICU admission, or before brain stem death certification is complete.
- In such cases, and for deaths at home, body donation remains possible.
- There is currently a shortage of human cadavers for teaching.
- State Health Secretaries are urged to inform stakeholders about this option and encourage and facilitate body donations from family members when organ donation is not possible.
- This will help address the cadaver shortage in medical institutions.
- Additionally, the Health Ministry announced a public awareness campaign, Angdaan Jan Jagrukta Abhiyaan, as part of Indian Organ Donation Day on August 3.
- One organ donor can save up to eight or nine lives.
Dig Deeper: Read about the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO)
