‘Mass pledge’ campaign at R K Nagar to create awareness on organ donation

Chennai: Celebrating the resurgence of J. Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu Telugu Yuva Sakthi on Saturday announced that the organisation would begin a ‘mass pledge’ campaign at R.K. Nagar here to create public awareness on organ donation. The event has been organised in association with Apollo Hospitals. K. Jagadishwara Reddy, president of the Tamil Nadu Telugu Yuva Sakthi, said the programme had been organised to educate local public about the importance of organ donation. Even after repeated awareness campaigns by various organisations, the public is still hesitant to give a consent to donate his/her organ after death.”

The event will continue until the pledge by the public touched the one-lakh mark, he said. The campaign will be extended to other parts of the state including Hosur, Krishnagiri, Salem and Madurai and parts of Andhra Pradesh. Sources say members of AIADMK are not ready to participate in the event until she campaigns at R.K. Nagar Assembly constituency where a bypoll is slated for June 27.
Organising the event in a constituency where election is to be held will not have much response, feels a cross-section of the public. Doctors are also apprehensive about the event and admit they have to wait and watch.

They feel the programme is just a camp organised to make people aware of organ donation and make them pledge that they will also donate their organs.Grief Counsellor at Apollo Hospitals R. Veena says, “Pledging to donate organ doesn’t mean that the person concerned can donate the organ. Once, the pledging is done in such camps, the organisers will issue a certificate, which the person concerned should handover to his/her relative and inform about their willingness to donate organs after their death.”The ultimate decision whether to okay organ donation is left to the relatives, parents and kin of the person concerned.