Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday urged youth to overcome apprehensions and donate their organs, as he stressed the need for easing procedures to regulate organ donation in accordance with scientific standards.
Terming organ donation a "delicate and sensitive" process that requires patience and conviction, Naidu said that the new and aspirational India must give up superstitions and redefine its spiritual outlook according to the social context.
Addressing the gathering at 'Deh Daaniyon Ka Utsav' organised by the Visva Hindu Parishad here, he called upon the youth to overcome their apprehensions and take a pledge to donate their organs.
The youth, with their scientific outlook to Indian traditions, can convince the society to make organ donation a mission, the vice president was quoted as saying by a statement.
Expressing concern about the acute shortage in the number of cadavers available to medical colleges, Naidu said the need of the hour is for us to donate bodies to science with the consent of the family and the society.
Pointing out that modern lifestyle is taking its toll on the health of the people and that non-communicable, lifestyle diseases are spreading at an alarming rate, Naidu said that in the longer term they affect vital organs, necessitating a transplant.
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He said while scientists have developed synthetic alternatives, incase of vital internal organs like kidney, heart, liver, there is still a large dependence on organ donation for a transplant.
Naidu also called for creating a system to help family members of patients to overcome the constraints posed by critical, complex and costly post-transplant care.
Cautioning against people who resort to unethical ways of stealing the organs surreptitiously without consent due to scarcity of donors, Naidu emphasised on the need for broadening definitions and easing procedures to regulate organ donation in accordance with the scientific standards.
Stressing that time is a critical factor in harvesting an organ from a donor's body and transplanting, he pointed out that most districts lack infrastructure and expertise to conduct such surgeries and post-operative care.
He said people from smaller districts travel to metros for organ transplant, where they are exposed to hostile and unscrupulous practices.
"We certainly have to improve our medical infrastructure at district level," he said.
Naidu commended the Dadhichi Dehdan Committee for gathering organ donors and collaborating with recognised government institutions and hospitals for the last 22 years to facilitate organ transplantation.