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An attempt to promote public awareness about organ donations

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: To celebrate the eighth anniversary of India's first successful liver transplant, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals here on Friday organised a function to create awareness about organ donations.

Pledged to donate

A large number of people pledged to donate their organs in case they become brain-dead. The doctors stressed the need to have more "knowledgeable donors" so that more lives could be saved and also to bring down the cost of treatment drastically.

Even though transplant of human organs is one of the greatest breakthroughs of the 20th Century, very few Indian patients are able to benefit from this medical advancement. Shortage of donors and organs has impeded the necessary thrust required to save more lives.

Ms. Kashyap, who donated the liver, kidneys and eyes of her 48-year-old husband after he had his second paralytic attack, said: "After my husband had his first paralytic attack on December 31, 2004, I admitted him to Apollo Hospitals. Four days later he had his second attack and slipped into coma. When doctors told me that they had to remove the ventilator, as he was brain-dead, I decided to donate his organs."

Stating that a proactive attitude towards organ donation was the need of hour, Dr. S.N. Mehta, senior consultant, Transplant and Surgery, Apollo Hospitals, said: "Besides counselling for relatives for organ donation in the event of brain death, we also need to have adequate infrastructure, matching and distribution of organs and coordination among hospitals. All this will ensure that we convert the current programme to the level of those working in the West."

To tackle the need to better address organ transplantation, the hospital launched an Apollo Transplant Centre here on Friday.

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