Govt taking steps to increase donation of cadaver organs

NEW DELHI: Acknowledging that there is a huge gap in supply of human organs for transplantation, Union Minister JP Nadda on Friday said that annually two lakh kidneys are required for transplant but only 6,000 are available.

The availability of liver is 1,500 while the annual requirement is 30,000 and in case of the heart, the yearly requirement is 50,000 whereas available is only 15, he said during Question Hour.

"There is a huge gap between the demand for and supply of human organs for transplantation... The government accords a very high priority for increasing donation of cadaver organs to bridge the gap between the demand for and supply of organs and save the lives of a large number of persons suffering from end-stage organ failure," the Health and Family Welfare Minister said.

Nadda said an Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee has been set up to coordinate various activities for promotion of organ donation.

Listing out various steps taken in this regard, Nadda said financial assistance is being provided under the National Organ Transplant Programme for hiring transplant coordinators in hospitals and trauma centres.

"Financial assistance has been sanctioned for establishing four Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO) in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Assam and Chandigarh," he added.