250 brain dead people donate organs post the announcement of State honours in TN

CHENNAI: A total of 250 brain dead people have donated their organs after the announcement of State honours for the organ donors in Tamil Nadu.

Health minister Ma Subramanian paid his respects to 59-year-old Murali from Pallavaram, who donated his organs after being declared brain dead, at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai on Saturday.

This marks the 250th State honor given to brain-dead organ donors.

The minister said that Tamil Nadu continues to hold the first place in organ donations in the country and State honors have been given to brain-dead organ donors in all districts by the respective district collectors, revenue officials, and other officials.

Following the positive impact of the programme, other states like Odisha and Andhra Pradesh are also taking steps to implement it.

"Currently, 14,300 people have pledged to donate their organs after death, which is a significant humanitarian effort. The organs donated by these 250 individuals have saved thousands of lives, " said the minister.

Out of the 250 brain-dead individuals, 138 were from government hospitals and 112 were from private hospitals.

As many as 32 individuals have donated their organs at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital this year.

In total, 185 individuals have donated their organs in Tamil Nadu.

A meeting was held with all the deans of medical colleges on July 31, 2022, and it was decided to establish organ retrieval centers in all government medical colleges.

Following this, necessary steps were taken to obtain licenses for these centers.

"Currently, a brain death committee has been set up in 39 government medical colleges and hospitals in Tamil Nadu, and it is being utilized on a large scale. So far, a total of 1,976 individuals have donated their organs in the State and 563 individuals have donated their organs in the last 3 years, " the minister said.

Earlier, liver transplant surgery was performed only at the Stanley Government Medical College, which has now been extended to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital as well.

In the coming years, liver transplant surgery will also be started at Tirunelveli, Madurai, and Coimbatore Government Medical College Hospitals.

Talking about the waitlist of organs in the State, minister said that there are 7,137 patients waiting for kidney transplantation, 401 patients waiting for liver transplantation, 87 patients for heart 4 patients for pancreas, and 51 patients are waiting for lung transplantation.

Additionally, 23 patients are waiting for heart and lung transplantation, 25 patients are waiting for hand transplantation, three patients are waiting for small intestine transplantation, 37 patients are waiting for kidney and liver transplantation, and 45 patients are waiting for kidney and pancreas transplantation.

In total, 7,815 patients are in need of organ transplantation.