To help the cause of organ donation the Maharashtra government is contemplating a law that would make it mandatory that all private hospitals cater lifestyle medical assistance to the donor’s immediate kinr. State Ministers Deepak Sawant and Girish Mahajan spoke about the same when they were addressing the media on Friday in Mumbai at the inaugural function for a website through which people can pledge to donate an organ.

As per Sawant –the Health Minister for the state, the ranking which private hospitals receive is based on the organ donations that they receive, as also the actual number of organ transplants which take place in the hospital. He added that formulating a law by which private hospitals are required to provide lifetime medical assistance to the donor’s dependents is being considered.

The idea behind such a thought, apparently is that instituting the law could give an extra impetus for people to donate organs.

Mahajan holds the Medical Education portfolio for the state. At the function, he announced a 3-day organ donation campaign which is to start on August 30. In the campaign, common people-up to the tehsil level will be educated on the benefits of donating organs.
He spoke about the numbers that have manifested since the Human Organ Transplant Act, 1994 came into effect. Till date, 11,364 kidney transplants, 468 liver transplants, 19 heart transplants, 3 lung transplants and 479 cornea transplants have been carried out.

The minister added that there are about 5 lakh people who suffer from various kindey problems in the country. Also, 50,000 who have liver ailments and 2,000 who live with serious heart problems-all of whom await a donor so that they can undergo organ transplant.

Image credits: hospitalnation.in

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