Women outnumber men while signing up for organ donation

Women have outnumbered men in Aadhar-authenticated sign-ups for organ donation on a recently launched website of the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO).

More than 82,000 people have pledged for organ donation since 16 September, with the 30-44 years age group constituting the bulk of the pledges, according to data from the website -- notto.abdm.gov.in.

According to the data updated at 1 pm on Wednesday, 40,320 people in the 30-44 age group have pledged for organ donation, followed by 21,751 in the 18-29 age group, 18,160 in the 45-59 age group and 2,592 aged above 60 years.

Also, 47,094 women, 35,726 men and 12 transgender people have pledged for organ donation on the portal.

The highest number of pledges have been received from Maharashtra (23,369), followed by Madhya Pradesh (18,847) and Telangana (11,564).

Maximum number of people have pledged to donate a kidney, followed by heart, liver, lungs, pancreas and intestine.

People have also pledged for tissues such as cornea, skin, bone, heart valves, blood vessels and cartilage.

There is a huge requirement of organs to save the lives of those suffering from organ failures, Dr Anil Kumar, Director of the NOTTO, said.

"India is at the third position in the world in terms of the total number of transplants done in 2022 and has developed capacities to perform multi-organ and rare transplants, such as lungs, pancreas, hand etc.

"However, there is still a large gap between the number of organs required and those available for transplantation. India's organ donation rate, which is the number of deceased donors per million population, still continues to be less than one per million in comparison to a much higher rate in countries like Spain and the United States," Kumar said.

Along with other initiatives and activities, a push to pledge for organ donation was also included during the "Sewa Pakhwada" (fortnight of service) that began on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday on September 17 and continued till October 2.

The Ayushman Bhav campaign aimed at providing a saturation coverage of healthcare services to every intended beneficiary, including those in the last mile, was also launched at that time.