At a time when the public health department under the Maharashtra government is working to increase the number of organ donations and transplantation in the state, Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Monday launched a unique organ and cadaver donation campaign with NGO Project Mumbai. To flag off the campaign -'HAR GHAR HAI DONOR', Tope himself pledged to donate his organs.
An initiative of NGO Project Mumbai and ROTTO-SOTTO, 'HAR GHAR HAI DONOR' initiative aims to go beyond the individual as a donor and encourage the family as a donor unit to pledge to donate their organs. The Regional cum State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO-SOTTO), West and Maharashtra were established by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, at KEM Hospital, Parel, Mumbai.
Another NGO, Amar Gandhi Foundation too is supporting Project Mumbai in this initiative.
Aiming to boost the number of organ donations and transplants, the state government last week constituted a task force. The Maharashtra government has entrusted targets to the task force of 260 organ donations in 2022 and 500 in 2023. The government’s decision came days after the State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (SOTTO) of Maharashtra won the award for the highest number of deceased donors transplantations while Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (ROTTO) for the Western Region was recognised for best performance. Across the country, Maharashtra is seen as one of the key states in organ donation and transplantation and with the establishment of the task force, and the government is quite eager to increase it.
"The key to success that I see in organ donation is awareness. Mostly, the decision of organ donation is taken by close relatives of persons who are brain dead and in such cases, awareness and implications are important as a family," said Tope who virtually launched the 'HAR GHAR HAI DONOR' campaign on Monday.
"HAR GHAR HAI DONOR' is an apt concept and I want this to have a great impact on people by saving more lives. I have signed my pledge form and called our office bearers so I encourage all individuals to pledge for organ donation. Let's join together in this movement then only will organ donation awareness happen," Tope added urging his colleagues and influencers to join the pledge to donate organs.
Public Health Secretary - Pradeep Vyas, Director of Health Services - Dr Ramaswamy N, Project Mumbai CEO and Founder Shishir Joshi, Director ROTTO-SOTTO Dr Sujata Patwardhan, KEM hospital Dean Dr Sangeeta Rawat were present during the launch of the campaign.
"Project Mumbai aims to reach out to schools, educational institutions and Housing societies in its effort to build awareness on this issue. Along with the ROTTO SOTTO teams. We also plan to bring on board other like-minded organizations as well as hold camps at public locations so that awareness increases resulting in more pledges and donors,'' said Shishir Joshi, CEO and Founder of Project Mumbai.
'HAR GHAR HAI DONOR' also proposes to honour families which donate as a unit and build a competitive spirit among communities to encourage large scale awareness and pledges. The pledge forms are available in Marathi and English on the Project Mumbai website, Joshi said.
Note:
According to the Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation (GODT), the total number of organ transplants done per year in India has increased from 4,990 in the year 2013 to 12,746 in the year 2019.
India now ranks third in the world only behind the USA and China in organ transplants.
