Shedding stigma, cadaver donation catching up in Kerala

Personal inhibitions and religious reasons once stopped people from donating their organs but cadaver donation is steadily catching up in Kerala with state agencies expecting the number of donors to touch 70 this year.
The number of donors has crossed the 36 mark since January this year and it is expected to go upto around 70 in the coming months, Health department officials said.
Vital organs of as many as 138 brain dead persons have been harvested and transplanted in needy patients in the last four years in Kerala.
The latest in the list of donors is a three-year-old baby girl, whose parents donated her liver, kidneys and cornea after the toddler was declared brain dead by doctors at a hospital here last week.

The heart of a city-based brain-dead lawyer airlifted to Kochi and transplanted within hours in an ailing patient also created waves in the state which is slowly waking up to the concept.
Besides those who come forward expressing desire to donate their organs post death, the number of families showing readiness to donate the organs of their dear ones, who are declared brain dead, is also on the rise in the state.

According to Kerala Network of Organ Sharing (KNOS), a state government initiative launched under its ambitious 'Mrithasanjeevani' programme, nine people donated their vital organs in the state in 2012, the year when the programme was launched, 36 donors in 2013, 58 in 2014 and 36 in 2015 (till early August).

The number of cadaver donors is expected to go upto 70 this year, KNOS nodal officer, Dr Noble Gracious said.
"Cadaver donation and transplantation was not popular in the state till some years ago. Even in the case of live donors, people had inhibition about the risk involved in the transplantation process," he told PTI.
"But, now there is a constant increase in the number of organ donations taking place in the state in the last four years, thanks to the initiatives of the government and wide publicity given by the media," he said.