“Every year we need around one lakh organs for patients waiting for transplantation. But we hardly get five percent of it. It means we fall short by 95 per cent of the organs needed. In our country where organs are cremated or buried, has recorded untimely deaths of nearly 6,000 people every day waiting for organ transplant. Every seventeen minutes someone dies waiting for organ transplant and in every thirteen minutes someone is added to a waiting list.”
This was pointed out by Dr Sarbeswar Sahariah, the eminent organ transplant super specialist and Padmashri recipient who is the first surgeon to successfully carry out kidney transplant in India way back in seventies.
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He was speaking as the chief guest in an awareness programme on organ donation organized by the authority of GNM Training Centre, Mangaldai in association with voluntary organizations, Crystal Vision of Mangaldai and North East Care Foundation of Guwahati at the training institution on Friday.
While presenting his lecture in support with the audio-visual media for almost one hour, Dr Sahariah spoke at length from the brief history of organ transplant in the world and India to the alarming picture of casualties due to acute scarcity of cadaver (patient with brain death) organ donors in the country.
The number of donors among one million people on an average is less than one.
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While stating that diabetes and high blood pressure are two major factors of organ failures, the noted surgeon urged people to prevent these two diseases for a better life and also asked the media to play a pivotal part in this regard.
“No one can actually feel the deep crisis of organ donors until and unless his near and dear ones suffer a situation of any organ failure,” he opined.
He stressed the need of massive public awareness on this serious subject and urged upon the trainee nurses, senior nurses, nursing faculty members, doctors present to study it and gather knowledge so that they can carry forward the message and become the best counsellors in the society.
Dr Sahariah also interacted with the participating student nurses and replied answers to different relevant questions raised by them. Prior to his discussion, Dr Sahariah presented a short film prepared on the real stories of some organ donors including that of sixteen-month-old ‘Sourya’, the youngest organ donor in the world of whom transplantation was successfully carried out in a Hyderabad based medical institute.
The programme was attended by the principal of GNM Training Centre, Swarna Lata Kalita.
Joint Director of Health Services, Darrang, Dr Ruplal Nunisha, Sub-divisional Medical and Health Officers, Dr N C Beriya and Dr J M Kataki, senior medical officer Dr M Medhi and couple of senior Army officials also attended the programme.