Campaign Seeks 10,000 Organ Donation Pledges in Telangana

Hyderabad: NephroPlus in partnership with MOHAN Foundation, an NGO, on Thursday launched a campaign to collect 10,000 organ donation pledges. The initiative aims to encourage families to discuss organ donation and address the gap between demand and availability of organs for transplant.

The organisations plan to conduct awareness programmes in private hospitals where NephroPlus centres are present and organise webinars encouraging people to discuss organ donation within their families. A donor card has been introduced where individuals can fill in their name, age, preferred organs for donation, and contact numbers. This is expected to help families make informed decisions about organ donation at the time of death of the donor. People can also visit the websites of NephroPlus and MOHAN Foundation to take the pledge.

Kamal Shah, co-founder of NephroPlus, said each pledge had the potential to save or improve several lives by making organs available for patients awaiting transplants. “More than 82,000 patients are awaiting organ transplants, including over 60,000 people waiting for kidney transplants. The estimated need for kidney transplants alone is around 1.75 to 2 lakh every year, but only about 13,000 transplants are performed annually. Telangana is among the leading states in organ donation, but there is still a need to increase awareness,” he said.

Bhanu Chandra, manager–operations and senior transplant coordinator at MOHAN Foundation, said discussions within families were essential. “Death is a reality and people should overcome the discomfort around organ donation. A person can continue to live through several lives after death by donating organs. In many cases, families refuse consent because the person had never discussed organ donation with them. I have counselled more than 800 families, and initiating the conversation earlier helps families take a decision,” he said.

Ratan Jha, clinical director in nephrology, said kidney transplants from living donors such as family members often face last-minute challenges such as blood group mismatch. “Cadaver organ donation is important to address the shortage of organs for transplant,” he said.