Telangana Urges People To Donate Organs

Telangana Health Minister T Harish Rao today urged the people to come forward voluntarily and pledge to donate their organs in death.

The minister on Saturday felicitated the family members of the deceased whose organs were donated, for agreeing to donate the organs of their loved ones.

Speaking on the occasion, Rao said that even though medicine had reached very advanced levels, organs like the heart, kidney and liver could still not be created artificially to replace damaged ones.

The shortage of these vital organs meant that millions of people continued to live life in pain, at times counting their days to the end. This pain could be ended only by people who pledged to donate their organs in death, Rao said, since for people suffering from serious illness, organ transplantation was the only hope.

Donating organs would not only help save others' lives, but would also help the deceased continue to live in those who received the organs, he said.

Rao said that the State government had launched an online enrollment facility for those seeking organ transplantation, and that the process was being executed in a transparent manner. So far over 1,000 deceased people had donated their organs, which had benefited over 4,000 patients in Telangana, he said.

"As of now in Telangana, over 8,000 people suffering from serious illnesses have gotten their names enrolled on the Jeevandhan portal, and are waiting for their turn of organ transplantation," Rao said.

The minister also said that the organ transplantation surgeries were being done in the government-run hospitals, and the facilities needed were unavailable elsewhere in the country.

"So far, over 400 organ transplantation surgeries have been done only in the Gandhi and Osmania hospitals, and in NIMS, and the State government is extending a financial assistance of Rs. 10 lakh and another Rs. 20,000 for medical expenses to those who are undergoing the transplantations," Rao said.

Fisheries Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav said that the infrastructure and other facilities had improved drastically in the government-run hospitals, and that the footfall of patients into government hospitals had increased across the State.

Minister Mahmood Ali and other senior officials were also present.