Open AccessOrgan donation – “attitude and awareness among undergraduates and postgraduates of North-East India”
Author(s) -
Raktim Pratim Tamuli,
Smritimala Sarmah,
Bishwajeet Saikia
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of family medicine and primary care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2278-7135
pISSN - 2249-4863
DOI - 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_206_18
Subject(s) - medicine , organ donation , donation , family medicine , organ transplantation , transplantation , surgery , law , political science
Organ donation is defined as "When a person allows an organ of theirs to be removed, legally, either by consent while the donor is alive or after death with the assent of the next of the kin." Common transplantations after organ donations include kidney, heart, liver, pancreas, intestines, lungs, bones, bone marrow, skin, and cornea. Although some organs such as kidney and tissues like part of the liver, pancreas, lungs, and intestines can be donated while the donor is alive, most of the donations occur only after the donor's death. In India, the legislative foundation for brain death and organ donation was officially established, under Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994 amended in 2011. It provided a much-needed legal and transparent system for organ donation. India's organ donation rate (ODR) stands at an abysmal 0.34 per million populations (PMP) when compared with donation rate of 36 PMP in countries like Spain. While in the rest of the country, states like Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat have made efforts to ramp up their ODR, by facilitating public and private health sector activities, such vision is still a far cry for the states in the North-Eastern part of India.