India ranks third in the world in organ donation and transplantation, informed Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) Mansukh Mandviya, while citing a report by Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation (GODT). Speaking at an event meant to celebrate Indian Organ Donation, the Union Health Minister also said that the country’s demand for organ replacement far exceeds organ donations.
“The total number of organ transplants done per year in the country has increased from 4,990 in the year 2013 to 12,746 in the year 2019 and India now ranks third in the world only behind USA and China, as per the data available on the Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation website,” said the Union Health Minister, while addressing the 12th National Organ Donation Day in Delhi. The occasion felicitated the members of families of deceased donors who gave their consent in a time of grief. While the organ donation rate has increased to about four times as compared to 2012-13, the country still faces a huge gap between the number of patients in need of a transplantation and the number of people who consent to donate their organs after death, he added.
Since 2010, Indian Organ Donation Day is celebrated on November 27 every year to commemorate the contributions made to society by deceased donors and their families. This year, the State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization of Maharashtra won the award for the highest number of donors, while Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization for the Western Region was recognised for best performance.
On 22 December 2005, the Spanish Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) signed an administrative agreement; Spanish Transplant Organisation (ONT) and the WHO’s Service Delivery and Safety department were the parties of the agreement. The agreement enabled Spanish Ministry of Health to contribute to the WHO in financial and staff resources to implement the cell, tissue and organ transplantation programme, including the creation and development of the global database on donation and transplantation, which is the basis of the joint ONT-WHO Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation.