World Organ Donation Day 2023 – August 13

World Organ Donation Day is annually observed on the 13th August across the globe to spread awareness about the importance of organ donation to save more lives and to make people aware of the misconceptions about organ donation.

• This day also aims to spread awareness and increase the number of people volunteering to donate their organs after death and to thank organ donors for their life-saving contributions.

The theme of World Organ Donation Day 2023 observed on 13th August 2023 is “Step up to volunteer; we need more organ donors to fill the lacunae”.

• The theme focuses on demanding urgent attention from the local public to emphasises the significance of pledging for organ donation, with the aim of alleviating the ever-growing demand for organs.

Background:

i.The world’s first-ever successful living donor organ (Kidney) transplant was performed in 1954 in the United States of America (USA).

• A man named, Ronald Lee Herrick donated his kidney to his twin brother, Richard Lee Herrick.

ii.The doctor who performed this surgery was named Dr. Joseph Murray. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1990 for bringing advances in organ and cell transplantation in the treatment of human disease.

iii.Dr. Joseph Murray shared with E. Donnall Thomas, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for his development of bone marrow transplantation, which could cure patients with advanced leukemia.

Types of Organ Donation:

There are 2 forms of organ donation: Living donation (donor is alive), and cadaver donation (donor donates after death).

Note: A donation from a deceased organ donor can save up to 8 lives, and enhance over 75 more.

Organ Donation Day in India:

i.Indian Organ Donation Day (IODD) is being observed on the 27th of November every year in India since 2010, to promote the act of organ donation.

ii.IODD was started under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) until 2022.

iii.From 2023, the day is being celebrated on August 3 to commemorate the first successful deceased donor organ transplant in India on 3rd August 1994, which was also the first Heart transplant, after the promulgation of “The Transplantation of Human Organ Act” on 8th July 1994.

iv.In India, a group of 20 surgeons led by Dr. P. Venugopal successfully performed India’s first heart transplant at AIIMS, Delhi on August 3, 1994. Devi Ram, a 40-year-old was the recipient and the donor was a 35-year-old woman. Devi Ram lived on for another 15 years.

Donate Organ Save Lives Campaign:

i.In 2023, as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, an awareness campaign for organ donation “Angdaan Mahotsav” has been started on 1st July 2023.

• As part of the campaign, 3rd August 2023 will be celebrated as IODD.

ii.The month of July 2023 was celebrated as Organ Donation Month, during which various awareness activities will be organised.

• NOTTO in collaboration with the MyGov platform has organised a Poster Making Competition on organ donation from August 3, 2023, to August 31, 2023.

Efforts of Government of India for Organ Donation:

i.On 8 July 1994, the Indian parliament passed a law called the Transplantation of Human Organs Act (THOA) that made deceased donor organ transplantation a reality in India by accepting brainstem death as a form of death.

• The act also establishes the NOTTO and State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organizations (SOTTO) to oversee organ donation and transplantation activities.

ii.National Organ Transplant Programme (NOTP) was launched in 2014 to create a national registry of organ donors and recipients, establish more organ transplant centers, and raise awareness about organ donation.

iii.National Organ and Tissue Transplant Registry was established in 2015, to maintain records of organ donations and transplantation.