30 November: 10th Indian Organ Donation Day celebrated

The 10th Indian Organ Donation Day was celebrated on 30 November 2019. Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare presided over, Dr. Harsh Vardhan presided over 10th Indian Organ Donation Day at a function held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The celebration was organised by NOTTO (National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organization.

Background: Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) had launched 6th World and first ever Indian Organ Donation Day and Organ Donation Congress in 2010 in New Delhi.

About National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO)

Union government set up National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) as a mandate of Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Act 2011. As specified by the Act, NOTTO is performing the functions of National Human Organs & Tissues Removal and Storage Network.

NOTTO is responsible for putting systems in place for organ donation, carrying out activities for promotion of organ donation from deceased persons, and transplantation and training needed manpower etc.

The procurement and sharing of organs obtained from deceased donors and allocation of procured organs is done by NOTTO, SOTTOs & ROTTOs. NOTTO sets up networking among hospitals and tissue banks at national level, while ROTTO at regional level and SOTTO at State level. The networking of transplant/ retrieval hospitals is done to ensure that any organ which is donated does not get wasted.

Organ Donation in India

As per data available on Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation, India performs 2nd largest number of transplants in world, next only to USA. However, India has a dismal 0.65 per million population (PMP) Organ Donation Rate and need is to improve this.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2019