Women show the way in living organ donation as 2023 sees highest ever transplants

Women lead in living organ donation, with a rise in transplants and deceased donors, promoting awareness and saving lives.

Women led the way in living organ donation, offering patients suffering from end-stage organ failure a new lease of life. Data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare show that the number of women living donors was 9,784 last year compared to 5,651 men. A lone transgender contributed an organ to save the life of another human being, taking the total number of living donors in the country in 2023 to 15,436. The total number of organ transplants, taking into account both living and deceased donors was 18,378, the highest ever.

The statistics revealed that the number of deceased donors was much higher among men, with 844 persons donating their organs, while women accounted for 255 such donations. The total (living and deceased) number of kidney transplants from January to December was 13,426, followed by liver and heart transplants at 4,491 and 221, respectively.

With an intensive awareness campaign on the issue under way in recent years, the nation saw a significant jump in the number of organ donations, which stood at 4,990 in 2013. However, the organ donation rate still continues to be less than one per million population.

Releasing the data, the Health Ministry said there was a need to promote organ donation from deceased persons to address the huge organ requirement, with increasing cases of non-communicable and lifestyle diseases leading to a high number of patients suffering from end-stage organ failure. “Organs are best donated from brain stem-dead persons before the heart stops beating. There are many myths and misconceptions regarding organ donation which need to be taken care of...”

It was reiterated that a living donor, after the age of 18 years or above, could donate either one kidney or part of liver only. A brain dead donor of any age, however, could donate up to eight vital organs - heart, two lungs, liver, two kidneys, pancreas and small intestine, and cornea, bone, skin, heart valves, etc. After natural cardiac death, only tissues can be donated.

To facilitate organ donation in medico-legal cases like road accidents, the Centre had issued a circular to create a facility for round-the-clock post-mortem in the hospitals having adequate infrastructure. As part of the “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav” (75th anniversary of Indian Independence), organ donation was showcased as “Jan Andolan” (people’s movement).

Telangana topped the country in organ donation with 252 cadaver donors, followed by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka with 178 cases each. In the number of kidney transplants, Delhi stood ahead of others with 2,576 cases while Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra reported 1,633 and 1,305 cases. Tamil Nadu reported the highest number of heart transplants, with 70 cases last year.