Tamil Nadu Health Minister expresses concern on rising waitlist for organs

Tamil Nadu leads in organ donations, but waitlist grows; Health Minister honors donors and surgeons on Organ Donation Day.

Tamil Nadu is leading in organ donations and transplants but at the same time, the number of persons waitlisted for organs is also on the rise. As of date, a total of 7,797 persons were on the waitlist for various organs in the State, according to Health Minister Ma. Subramanian.

On the occasion of Organ Donation Day on Monday, the Health Minister felicitated families of deceased donors and transplant surgeons, in the presence of Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments P.K. Sekar Babu.

Giving a break-up of the number of persons, the Minister said that 7,106 persons were waitlisted for kidneys, 416 for liver, 83 for heart, 54 for lungs, 24 for heart and lungs, while there were persons waitlisted for pancreas, hands and small bowel as well.

Since the inception of the deceased donor organ transplant programme in 2008, there were 1,998 donors in the State. A total of 7,207 major organs, including 892 hearts, 912 lungs, 1,794 liver, 3,544 kidneys, 42 pancreas, 15 small bowels and seven hands, were utilised so far. A total of 4,204 tissues were retrieved and utilised, he said.

The Chief Minister had announced State honours for the mortal remains of deceased donors on September 23, 2023. Since then, the honours were accorded to 272 deceased donors from whom 1,461 organs were retrieved. After this announcement, 14,300 persons have pledged to donate their organs.

Asked about AIADMK leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s criticism of the Health Department, the Minister asked him to check if Anti Snake Venom (ASV) and Anti Rabies Vaccine (ARV) were stocked in any of the Primary Health Centres during the AIADMK government. Both ASV and ARV, which were earlier available only in taluk hospitals, district headquarters hospitals and medical college hospitals, were presently available in 2,286 PHCs. Similarly, emergency loading doses were available in 8,713 health sub-centres and 2,286 PHCs under Idhayam Kappom scheme and about 11,000 persons have benefitted so far, he added.

Health Secretary Supriya Sahu said that there was still much more to be done with respect to organ donations in India. The gap between demand and availability should be addressed, she said, adding that the message on organ donation should reach more people and more awareness needs to be created among the youth.