Mumbai: To encourage organ donation, the central government has sent a proposal to the state government to provide financial aid to donor families.
In India, lakhs of patients await organ transplants and the list keeps growing longer by the day. According to statistics, only 0.58 people out of one million donate organs. “It seems like there is some loophole which keeps people from coming forward to donate their organs, resulting in a longer waiting list,” said an official. Dr Sanjeev Kamble, Director of Health Services, Maharashtra, said “The proposal has been sent to the state government, which has set up a committee to decide on the proposal. Moreover, the government has proposed Rs 5 lakh for the donor family and Rs 50,000 for the hospital where the transplant will take place,” Dr Kamble added.
The state organ transplant body, the Zonal Transplant Coordination Centre (ZTCC) and non-governmental organisation (NGOs) have welcomed the move, saying providing financial support to the family will help other families to come forward to donate. But it also raised questions of whether the government will able to maintain transparency in providing financial aid to the donor’s family. “Many times, it has been noticed that the hospital does not hand over the body to the family after organs have been donated due to non-settlement of the bill. So will the government foot the hospital bill as well?” asked Shrikant Apte, a founder of the NGO Rajhans Pratisthan.