CHENNAI: Organ donors will be accorded "full state honours" during their funeral in Tamil Nadu, chief minister M K Stalin announced on State Organ Donation Day on Saturday.
Organ donations are possible only because the families of brain-dead patients make the sacrifice at the time of grief, the chief minister said.
The Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu's member secretary, Dr N Gopalakrishnan, said the state was encouraging doctors and nurses to do an "honour walk" for deceased organ donors. At least 300 staff members, including senior doctors, nurses and patients, walk with the mortal remains of the donor from the wards to the mortuary in the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. "We are asking all hospitals to do this as a mark of respect to the departed soul. This will be followed by a state honour," he said.
Tamil Nadu is among the pioneers in organ transplants in the country, and has won the national awards almost every year for best performance and judicious use of organs.
September 23 is observed as the organ donation day in the state every year since 2008, when a doctor couple - Dr Pushpanjali and Dr Ashokan - donated the organs of their teenage son, who was declared brain dead by doctors at a private hospital in Chennai.
So far, more than 6,000 organs including heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, pancreas, bowel, cornea, bone and skin have been retrieved from more than 1,600 donors.
On Saturday, flowers were showered on photographs of the organ donors and their families were honoured. Health minister Ma Subramanian released a musical tribute for organ donors at an event.
There are 13 organ transplant units in government medical colleges in the state.
To increase the organ pool, the state has declared 27 other medical college hospitals as non-transplant organ retrieval centres," health minister Ma Subramanian said.
The state has more than 6,179 patients waiting for kidneys and 4,049 for lives. The waiting list for hearts has 72 patients and there are 60 on the waitlist for lungs.
In addition, there are around 24 people on the waiting list for heart and lungs, besides pancreas, hands, cornea and other tissues, said Subramanian. The state health insurance funds organ transplant and post-transplant medical requirements.
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