Organ donation: Gift of life

Abstract

Every year, August 13, is celebrated as Organ Donation Day. The day is celebrated to motivate and encourage people to donate their organs and to understand the value of organ donation in the life of an individual who needs it because lakhs of people die every year waiting for an organ and every 12 minutes, one more patient is added to the waiting list. According to a survey, every year in India, about: 500,000 people die because of non-availability of organs, 200,000 people die due to liver disease, 50,000 people die because of heart disease. Moreover, 150,000 people await a kidney transplant but only 5,000 get among them. Despite India being the world's second-most populous country, it has a pathetic deceased organ donation rate of just 0.26 per million population compared to 26 in the US, 35 in Spain and 36.5 in Croatia.