Let’s Increase Awareness about organ donation on this Organ Donation Day!

Awareness about organ donation

Every year , August 13 is celebrated as organ donation day . The day is celebrated to motivate and encourage people to donate their organs and to understand the value of organ donation . Because lakhs of people die every year waiting for an organ and In every 12 minutes , One more patient is added to the waiting list . To minimize this waiting list elderly people should donate their organs after death so that they can save the life of others. One generous act can save 8 lives and one organ donor can help more than 75 people. You have an opportunity , will you give someone a second chance ? What organs can donate successfully— heart , intestines, kidney , pancreas liver , cornea 

According to the survey of 2019 in India , 500,000 people die people die because of non availability of organ. If old age people want to donate their organ they have to inform earlier to their relatives . So that after his/her death. Organ transplant properly because organ donation is only possible when the donor has died frequently or in hospital. Organ needs a supply of oxygen-rich blood to remain suitable for transplant or to store it. Donor are to put on artificial respiration to keep their heart beating so that oxygen circulate through their body.

Organ donation: Don't let these myths confuse you

Myth: If I agree to donate my organs, the hospital staff won't work as hard to save my life.

Fact: When you go to the hospital for treatment, doctors focus on saving your life — not somebody else's. You'll be seen by a doctor whose expertise most closely matches your particular condition and who can give you the best care possible.

Myth: I'm too old to donate. Nobody would want my organs.

Fact: There's no defined cutoff age for donating organs. The decision to use your organs is based on strict medical criteria, not age. Don't prematurely disqualify yourself. Let the doctors decide at the time of your death whether your organs and tissues are suitable for transplantation.

Donor’s motives

Most donors are likely to be motivated by multiple factors. These factors include intrinsic factors (e.g., desires to relieve the suffering of another or to act in according to the religious convictions) and extrinsic factors (e.g., the social pressures or perceived norms) that may operate simultaneously. The particular combination of motivational forces will also differ depending on whether and how the donor is related to the recipient.

Support

It includes mainly the assessment of the donor’s available physical, financial and emotional support. It is necessary to identify whether the donor have someone to provide care in the recovery period, have sufficient financial support and so on. This important to avoid distress if the donor develops any complications. Finally, does the donor have the support of significant others for being a donor, or is he or she choosing to donate over the objections of persons who have a legitimate interest in the outcome of an autonomous decision.

Immunosuppression :

This is one of the major challenges after organ transplantation. Many studies have suggested that most of the late graft loss occurs because of immunologic reasons, frequently antibody-mediated. So the approach of minimizing immunosuppression is necessary with the present drugs to reduce toxicities and may actually be helpful in the long-term survival of the graft. The toxicities are minimized by allowing more grafts to be rejected by immune mechanisms. Hence, development of effective agents that lack long-term toxicities so that we can maintain optimum immunosuppression over the long-term.

Conclusion : 

The organ donation decision is a complex one, based strongly on personal beliefs. There are some factors, such as religious and cultural beliefs, that are seemingly intractable and are often cited as reasons for a refusal to donate. In this chapter, it is shown that these have often been found to be tied in with more complex issues such as a distrust of the medical system, misunderstandings about religious stances and ignorance about the donation process. Interventions to better engage the community, including disadvantaged and minority groups, to foster trust and provide information represent promising opportunities of promoting organ donation in the future.

Donor motives directly contribute to their decision to donate, is not uniform and is influenced by multiple factors. Majority of the donors were relationship oriented donors, whose major motives were desires to relieve the suffering & save the life of their loved ones. Creating awareness of organ donation will directly influence the donor's motives and willingness. By deriving the motives many more interventions to improve the willingness to be a living organ donor can be evolved. Recruitment of living donors represents a medical and moral responsibility. The possibility of organ removal from healthy donor to a recipient needs great inner motivation. Saving one’s life is divine.