Commander of Indian Army’s Western Command Underlines Need for Visible Campaigns Promoting Organ Donation

The commander in chief of Indian Army’s Western Command, Lt. Gen. Sanjiv Chachra revealed that there is an urgent need for vigorous and visible campaigns that promote organ donation in the society.

The idea of organ donation in India, when compared to many countries in the West, is still in its infancy. Every year many die waiting for an organ. Organ donation saves lives. Stating this in awareness cum felicitation programme at Army Hospital in New Delhi yesterday, Lt. Gen. Chachra said that lack of awareness is one of the prime reasons for low organ donation in the country.

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A large number of army personnel and their families attended the awareness programme.

Lt. Gen. Chachra and his wife Anshul Chachra set an example to the rest of the society by pledging their organs for donation. Many donor families were present in the gathering and were felicitated by Anshul Chachra.

The teamwork in Armed Forces that helped to fly an organ from PGIMER Chandigarh to Army Hospital (Research and Referral) to save the life of a soldier was vividly narrated. The Army Commander in his address exhorted all personnel to pledge their organs for donation and work together for this noble cause.

About Transplantation
Since the early times, the novel idea of transplanting tissues and other body parts from one organism to the other has captured the imagination of successive generations.

Armed Forces had taken the initiative to promote organ donation way back in 2007. Armed Forces Organ Retrieval and Transplantation Authority (AORTA) was formed same year to look after all activities related to organ donation and transplantation in the armed forces.

Considerable success has been achieved since then with 113 brain death declarations and 37 multiple organ donations at Army Hospital (Research and Referral). The multiple organ donations have facilitated 44 liver (including nine livers obtained from ORBO New Delhi), 70 renal and three heart transplants. These numbers are the highest by and single government institute in the country.

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Preferred Term is Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. In this stem cell from bone marrow are injected into a recipient after treating them with growth factor.

Over 8,000 soldiers and their families have registered with AORTA pledging their organs in the event of a brain death.

Source-ANI