Chennai:?Tamil Nadu has taken a big leap in cadaver organ transplantation and compared to last year, there has been a substantial increase of donors in 2013.
Last year, 83 deceased donors donated their organs and this year the number has reached 129. The donors have helped protect the lives of 385 persons who were in need of kidneys, livers, hearts and lungs. Apart from 385 major organs, 100 heart valves and 180 corneas have been transplanted thus helping 280 more people.
“This number of donors this year amounts to 1.8 per million population per year for the state and this is estimated to be more than 15 times this ratio for the rest of India,” said Dr J. Amalorpavanathan, convenor of the state cadaver transplant programme.
Tamil Nadu is the No. 1 state in cadaver transplantation. A brain dead person can give life to nine persons.
The cadaver transplant programme in the state was started in September 2008 from then on, every year, there has been a substantial increase in the number of deceased donors.
A senior government doctor pointed out that the increase of donors was possible only due to awareness created about cadaver organ transplantation.
Grief counsellors play an important role in convincing relatives of brain dead patients to donate organs.
“At first, they may be in the stage of denial, not ready to accept that the person is declared brain dead. And there comes the stage of acceptance and we convince relatives of patients to harvest the organs,” say counsellors.
