India accounts for low incidence of organ transplant due to lack of awareness and non compatible donors, according to the Zonal Coordination Committee of Karnataka (ZCCK). The Committee which monitors the organs transplant programme in the state has noted that in the last two years only 12 cadaver donors have been able to save lives of 33 patients in the state. Many people in India die due to unavailability of the organs or lack of compatible donor within the family. There is also a serious lack of awareness to donate organs. Although one lakh people die in road accidents in the state, the organ donation is yet to take place.

However, under the new amendment of the Organ Transplantation Bill, punishment against those involved in commercial organ trade has become severe. The bill says that those involved in the trade, including the doctors who help in the swapping will be levied a fine of Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000.

The amendments also entitle the living organ donors to benefits like 50 percent discount on second class rail tickets, lifelong free medical check-ups and care in the hospital where the organ donation takes place, including a customised life insurance policy of Rs 2 lakh.

India needs 2.5 lakh eyes donated every year, but the ophthalmology care centres can manage to source only 25,000 of which 30 per cent can be used. Around 30,000 liver transplants are required annually but only 400 transplants are performed.

There are 1.5 lakh new patients suffering from end-stage renal failure annually and only 3,500 get kidney transplants. Although one lakh people die in road accidents, the organ donation is yet to pick up in the state.

Of the 33 hospitals licensed to conduct organ transplant in Karnataka, 23 are in Bangalore and less than 5 per cent of these medical centres have the required permission to transplant all the organs. The cadaver organ donation programme is active only in five states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka, said the officials.

With the Union Law Ministry clearing the long pending amendments to the Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994, the swapping of the organs between willing donors will be legal.

The Health Ministry has also planned a national organ transplant programme from November and this will set up an organ retrieval and banking organisation in all the major cities and metros to increase opportunities for organ donation. At present against the demand of 4.5 lakh patients needing organ transplantations annually, India has conducted only 35,000 organ transplants in the last 10 years.

Currently, the transplantation can take place only between blood relatives like father, mother son and daughter and those relatively close to the patients. Swapping will help patients who have relatives willing to donate due to unavailability but are medically incompatible for the recipient.

Under this system, when a donor's organ is not compatible but is suitable for another, two families unknown to each other can exchange the organs.

According to the ZCCK, many people in India die due to unavailability of the organs or lack of compatible donor within the family. Swapping will help exchange the organs between two families and also help to curb the organ trade.