- Poor identification and certification of brain stem death or brain death cases is keeping the rate of organ donations at low levels in India according to the Health Ministry.
- The rate of organ donations remains at less than one donor per million population in a year.
- The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) asked health authorities:
- To identify each potential brain death case
- Inquire whether the potential donor has pledged for organ donation.
- If not, hospital authorities should make family members aware of the opportunity to donate organs before the heart stops.
- The doctor on duty in hospitals, with the help of the transplant coordinator, should make necessary inquiries after the brain death cases are certified by the competent authority.
- The DGHS issues the Standard Operating Procedure under the provisions of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994.
- The Health Ministry asked hospitals to install ‘Required Request Display Boards’ at strategic locations conveying the message to save lives.
- Going by the transplant data, a total of 16,041 organs, mostly kidneys, were donated in 2022. Delhi topped the country with 3,818 donations.
Dig Deeper: Learn about National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organisation
