With 26,000 pledges in one go, Army creates record in promotion of organ donation
As many as 26,000 Army personnel pledged to donate organs at a campaign conducted by the Indian Army, creating a national record in organ donation in a single drive. The Army’s organ transplanting team has now been selected for the Special Award for Promotion of Organ Donation and Pledging.
In April, Headquarters Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa Area had carried out a special awareness and pledge drive in collaboration with the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) at different military stations in the Southern Command.
“Indian Army, Mumbai, in collaboration with NOTTO organised mega organ donation drive achieving the highest ever pledge registration by a single institution with more than 26,000 Army personnel signing up for the noble cause in a single campaign,” NOTTO said on its official X handle.
The award is scheduled to be presented to the team on August 2 by Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare JP Nadda at a function being organised by NOTTO at New Delhi to mark the 15th Organ Donation Day.
Functioning under the Directorate General of Health Services in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, NOTTO is the apex organisation for implementing the National Organ Transplant Program and provides an efficient and organised system of organ procurement and distribution in the country. It also maintains the national registry of donors and recipients of organs and tissues.
The government is also giving a thrust to organ donation and transplant. Medical experts estimate that each year over five lakh persons in India lose their lives waiting for an organ, especially kidney, liver and heart. Doctors say that a single brain-dead person can save up to eight lives through organ donation.
While the medical requirements are large, organ donation in India is among the lowest in the world, mainly because of lack of awareness, beliefs and myths or lack of adequate infrastructure and required facilities in smaller towns.
In the Indian armed forces, organ donation started in the late 2000s and is coordinated by the Armed Forces Organ Retrieval and Transplantation Authority (AORTA) at the Army Research and Referral Hospital, New Delhi.
Over the years, military hospitals have developed expertise in transplanting heart, liver, kidney and lungs, besides carrying out other similar medical procedures related to cornea, tissues, etc. They have done some pioneering work in this domain and also won several awards.
The Indian Air Force also plays a critical role by airlifting donated organs to different places within a short time frame. The armed forces are said to have the largest and most successful donor transplant programme in the government sector.
India