Cadaver donation: Gujarat fourth among Indian states

AHMEDABAD: The recently released figures by National Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organization (NOTTO) about the organ donation trends from 2013 to 2022 indicated that Gujarat, with 148 cadaver donations, ranked fourth among all Indian states in organ retrievals. This is the first time that Gujarat has climbed to the fourth position in the list, said sources. According to NOTTO figures, the state retrieved 399 organs from 148 cadavers - which is another record.
Telangana was at the top with 655 organ retrievals from 194 cadavers, Tamil Nadu retrieved 553 from 156 cadavers, and Karnataka 435 from 151 cadavers. It was a major achievement for Gujarat that doubled the numbers from 70 in 2021 to 148 in 2022.
Dr Pranjal Modi, the vice chancellor of the Gujarat University of Transplant Sciences (GUTS), and the coordinator of State Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organization (SOTTO), said that the improvement in numbers can be attributed to the government hospitals. They have been doing very well in both convincing the relatives of brain-dead patients and carrying out organ retrievals in time, he said.
"Every cadaver donation reduces the burden of a living donor. While the gap between the demand and supply is huge, we see positive trends when it comes to hospitals taking the lead in starting organ donation programmes. We recently transported organs by air to Ahmedabad, ensuring that these could be transplanted in time to save lives. In the recent past, we have also seen donations from all communities and religions," he said, adding that attempts are on to include as many hospitals as possible in the network of organ retrieval centres.