‘More To Give’ Campaign To Increase Awareness On Organ Donation- Health Experts

Fortis Healthcare launched More to Give campaign on the occasion of Kargil Diwas on July 26. The nationwide campaign is aimed at sensitizing people on the concept of organ donation as well as encouraging them to pledge their organs in an effort to save precious lives and positively impact the well-being of the nation The campaign also aims to increase the organ donation rate from 0.5 per million to one per million of the population by 2020. "We are getting so much from nature, the nature does not count what it gives us. Now it is our turn to give back to it. I will choose Bakr-Eid to donate my organs. " said 40 year old actor Irrfan Khan On Kargil Divas, we salute the spirit of all the countrymen, who have fought and are fighting for our nation without caring for their lives. I would urge all fellow Indians to support the cause and pledge to donate their organs," he said.

Campaign brand ambassador Irrfan Khan launched the campaign with Mr. Malvinder Mohan Singh, Executive Chairman, Fortis Healthcare, Mr. Bhavdeep Singh, CEO, Fortis Healthcare and Dr. Avnish Seth, Director, Fortis Organ Retrieval & Transplant, Fortis Healthcare. This was followed with a panel discussion on a television channel.

Speaking passionately for the cause, Mr. Malvinder Mohan Singh, Executive Chairman, Fortis Healthcare said that the objective of this campaign is to create widespread awareness and encourage more and more people to register as organ donors as each one of us has the power to give and save lives.

Mr. Bhavdeep Singh, CEO, Fortis Healthcare mentioned that the demand for organ transplant has greatly increased over the years due to higher instances of organ failure in patients on the one hand and improvement in transplant outcomes on the other. But there is a deep chasm between demand and supply due to lack of knowledge and priority given to it.

Dr. Avnish Seth, Director, Fortis Organ Retrieval & Transplant, Fortis Healthcare shared that, the current situation sees a serious organ shortage with patients dying while waiting for transplants. For instance, only 15000 kidney transplants are carried out against the demand of nearly 2, 20,000 and only 2000 liver transplants are carried out in India whereas over 100,000 patients die due to fatal liver diseases. This unique campaign aims to take the lead to further the cause of organ donation with public and stakeholder support.

Half a million people die for not receiving organs at the right time. There is a need to create organ donation awareness and the government should take efforts by coming up with a large scale campaign. Brain-dead entity should be recognised in hospitals and license should be provided to all the states said K.R. Balakrishnan, Director, Cardiac Sciences, Fortis Hospital.

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The health experts expressed their apprehensions on lack of proper knowledge about organ donation and myths surrounding it that is affecting the initiative. The cause of organ donation does not enjoy a prominent place in the minds of Indians. Each year thousands of people die while waiting for a transplant, because no suitable donor can be found in time for them.

The Fortis More to Give campaign aims to address the existing negative perceptions and a general lack of actionable concerns that are the biggest challenges in the way of increasing donor numbers. It will activate the nation's conscience by sharing stories of disabled war veterans who have actually pledged to donate organs.

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By enlisting war veterans into the cause of organ donation and making them the ambassadors for this cause, the campaign will motivate more citizens to register for organ donation.

Source-Medindia