Hyderabad: While thousands of organ donors are voluntarily coming forward to donate their organs, religious issues (religious leaders of Islam and some denominations of Christianity preach against it) are big hurdles.
Also there is the medical issue of blood group incompatibility wherein matching is difficult as the pool of donors and recipients are relatively small.
As many as 13,058 donors from both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have registered with “Jeevandan” in the last three years by pledging to donate their organs after death. More than 65 per cent donors registered in 2015.
Jeevandan’s public relations officer V.S. Anuradha told DC that although 882 organs were donated by 191 persons in the last three years, 1,829 recipients are still waiting for donors.
“Religious issues and blood factors are becoming impediments in transplantations. We have conducted nearly 400 counseling sessions in last three years, which motivated only 191 donors. Mostly, relatives of brain-dead or dead Muslims don’t allow us to take the organs stating that Islam does not permit organ donation and that being dead without organs is a sin. We have faced similar replies from the Christian community. But we have succeeded to convince two families of donors through counseling. We are organising awareness programmes to overcome such hurdles,” she said.
Jeevandan programme in-charge Dr G. Swarnalatha said that though nearly 13,000 donors had registered with Jeevandan, the number was very low. “At present the Jeevandan programme is limited to Hyderabad and surrounding localities. We will set up zonal centers of Jeevandan programme in all the district headquarters in a phased-manner. The first phase was taken up in three hospitals —1 NIMS (central unit), OGH (training unit) and Gandhi Hospital (awareness unit),” she said.
She added that awareness would have to be created among all doctors across the states. “Most doctors do not have any awareness, especially in districts and rural areas. Doctors should create awareness among the general public. We will take up awareness sessions in a phased manner. At present only 23 hospitals under GHMC limits are registered with the programme. Small hospitals and nursing homes in districts should take part in the programme to save lives. The second phase of Jeevandan will be extended to Warangal district,” she said.
Speaking about donors who registered voluntarily, she said that 6,058 donors had registered on the Jeevandan website (http://www.jeevandan.gov.in) and nearly 7,000 donors had registered during awareness sessions and at hospitals.
Most donors who took the oath for donating their organs in the last year were from the younger generation.
Hyderabad in fact witnessed a world record in organ donation pledges wherein more than 4,000 citizens pledged their organs during an awareness programme at Shilpakala Vedika last year in which filmstar Nagarjuna was the chief guest.
At present 23 major hospitals are registered with Jeevandan and two doctors from each hospital – Dr Bhaskar and Dr Ramesh from OGH, Dr Purohit and Dr Suryaprabha from NIMS and Dr Subbareddy from Apollo – are creating awareness among patients and attendants at their respective hospitals about organ donation.
Donate and live even after death
“Allah ka lakh lakh shukar hai. Meri bachi ko usne Jeevandan diya hai (Praise be to Allah for giving a new lease of life to my daughter),” said Mohammad Nayeemuddin from Malakpet in Hyderabad.
While sharing his views about the Jeevandan programme, he said that his daughter Nusrat Fatima was suffering from kidney failure and had applied for an organ through Jeevandan.
“On January 29 my daughter underwent a kidney transplant at NIMS and now her health is very good. I am very happy with the organ donation programme,” he said.
Shamir Hussain from Kadapa said that his brother Ahmed Moheuddin Haveli was suffering from kidney diseases and they had applied for an organ through Jeevandan.
“On December 10, the kidney transplantation was done successfully. Our family is happy with Jeevandan,” he said.
Not only are the families of the recipients happy with Jeevandan, the donors’ families too are satisfied with the programme despite losing their loved ones.
Recently, 44-year-old S. Sravan Kumar from Kusumanchi of Khammam district was declared brain dead and his organs were donated. His brother-in-law J. Vijay said that although Sravan was no more, they were happy that his organs were still alive.
A 20-year-old student, P. Somnath from Yadki of Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh said that his brother had died of kidney failure and no donor was available at that time although they were ready to bear the cost for the transplant.
“I thought no one else should suffer in future like our family. I thus voluntarily registered with Jeevandan as a donor,” he said.
Another student from Hayatnagar in Ranga Reddy district, K. Harika (24) said that she would like to live after death by donating her organs.
“One person’s organs will help 10 recipients to live. When one dies, he can live in 10 persons,” she said.
