Organ donation queries up post 'Mann ki Baat': Nadda

The number of queries made to the National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO), including through phone and website, have increased after Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the issue in his radio message 'Mann Ki Baat', Parliament was informed today.
The importance of organ donation has been highlighted by the Prime Minister in his 'Mann Ki Baat' radio programme in October and November 2015, Health Minister J P Nadda said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.
"As a result, a very large number of calls/queries are being received by NOTTO from all over the country. Average number of visitors visiting NOTTO website everyday has increased from 665 before Mann Ki Baat on October 25, 2015 to 1,407, and similarly, average number of calls being received has increased from 22 to 61 per day," he said.

The Minister said the Government accords "very high priority" for increasing donation of cadaver organs to bridge the gap between the demand and supply of organs and to save the lives of a large number of persons suffering from end stage organ failure.
He said the various steps taken to make organ donation easier include provision of updated information to general public on NOTTO website, a 24x7 call centre with toll free helpline number, launch of National Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplant Registry.
He said the Government has also decided to award the best performing state, best NGO, best transplant coordinator and best hospitals/institutes, and so on working in the area of organ donation.

Nadda said the hospitals have been advised to display boards outside the Intensive Care Units and at strategic locations in hospitals reminding that the law requires the doctor on duty/transplant coordinator/counsellor to make inquiry and request for organ donation from the family members of brain stem dead persons.
Financial assistance is also being provided under the National Organ Transplant Programme for hiring transplant coordinators in Hospitals and Trauma Centres, he added.