By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR:On an average, 20 people die in India every day while waiting for life-saving organ transplantation amidst a severe shortage of donors.
“It is a critical situation and the need is to inform the society about the importance of organ donation which can save lives,” Dr. Bibhuti Bhushan Nayak, Joint Director, State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTTO) in Odisha, said on Monday.
Dr. Nayak was addressing ‘Angadan Mahotsav’ (Celebration of Organ Donation) as the guest of honour on an awareness program attended by several hundred students at the SOA Deemed to be University here. The program was organised by SUM Ultimate Medicare (SUMUM), the one-stop, next generation, multi-superspecialty and quaternary care hospital in the city.
The need is to spread awareness among the masses so that timely donation of organs of a deceased person by the family members can provide patients waiting for donors a new lease of life, Dr. Nayak, who was the guest of honour at the program, said.
Dr. Swetapadma Dash, Chief Executive Officer of SUM Ultimate Medicare, said the hospital had been observing ‘Angadan Mahotsav’ since 2023 to promote the noble cause of organ donation with the intention of creating collective consciousness among the people. “Organ donation amounts to gifting of life but we have too few donors leaving needy persons with little option,” she said adding SUM Ultimate Medicare had an able organ transplant team which was doing a great job.
“Thousands of patients across the country continue to wait for life-saving organ transplants. At the same time, a single deceased donor can potentially give the gift of life to several people,” she said.
Through ‘Angadan Mahotsav’, SUMUM hopes to inspire the youth to start conversations about organ donation so that more families can understand and make the informed decision when the need arises, Dr. Dash said.
Er. Trailokya Nath Panda, Founder of Multi Organ Transplantation and Human and Educational Research (MOTHER), an NGO promoting organ donation, who addressed the program as chief speaker, said people across the state needed to be convinced that organ transplant could be done successfully and help save lives.
The first organ donation and transplantation in Odisha happened at the V.S.S. Medical College and Hospital at Burla in 1985, he said adding MOTHER was working on two different fronts. It was spreading awareness about organ donation while promoting body donation to medical colleges to enable the MBBS students to study through body dissection.
Er. Panda said that earlier only unclaimed bodies were being sent to medical colleges for educational purpose. But the scenario changed after the state government amended the relevant act allowing individuals to voluntarily donate bodies to the medical colleges, he said.
Dr. Banambar Ray, Head of Department and Senior Consultant, Critical Care at SUM Ultimate Medicare, said that students could be the ideal opinion makers and help spread awareness about organ donation. Brig (Dr.) Biraj Mohan Mishra, Chief of Medical Services, said the efforts in this direction would succeed only when people understand that organs donated by a deceased person can save four to five lives.
Prof. Jyotiranjan Das, Dean Student Welfare SOA joined the event as the special guest speaker and spoke about the importance of organ donation.
The founder President of SOA Prof. (Dr) Manojranjan Nayak said in his special message that “Organ donation is the highest expression of humanity- the gift of life beyond life. Through SOA Hospitals, we are committed to building a culture where the courage to donate becomes a legacy of compassion, giving others the precious chance to live” he said.
The message which was sent out at the program was that organ donation was more than a medical decision as it was an act of compassion, humanity and generosity.
The program also featured interactive awareness sessions on organ and tissue donation with healthcare professionals and experts addressing questions related to donation, transplantation, consent, eligibility and the legal framework.
