The Jeevandhaan, the novel organ donation progarmme initiated by the earlier governments in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, is fast catching up in new state of Telangana. The main reason for this growing awareness and of course the initiatives taken up the authorities implementing the Jeevandhaan has also attracted more people to opt for organ donation.

Recently the family members of 2 brain dead persons donated 12 organs to Jeevandhaan scheme of the state government. Both Kancha Singh and Adinarayan Reddy, who were critically injured in different accidents, were declared brain dead by the doctors and after counseling with the family members, they agreed to donate their 2 kidneys, 2 corneas, liver and heart valves respectively. “We agreed to donate the organs as we felt we could help those who are struggling to live a quality life. We tried our best to save my father but as he lapsed into coma. We thought if he could give others a chance, and we went ahead. If someone somewhere is benefiting is a big solace to us in this hour of grief,” informed Alekhya, daughter of Adinarayan Murthy.

“Not just these two cases, even earlier may people have donated and many more are willing to donate, except that there needs to be a small counseling to convince and explain them about the novel cause. Awareness is picking up in urban areas, but still there is much needed to be done to take this forward in the rural areas, says Dr Swarna Latha, co-ordinator of Jeevandhan.

Thanks to the Jeevandhaan project, the state government has created a great website, where it is transparent and allows anyone to get registered for organ donation or seeking organs.

Over 100 people seeking liver transplant have registered themselves on the website of Jeevandan. The recent successful liver transplant in Osmania General Hospital has also added confidence among the common people. The TS government is also encouraging such transplants and sanctioned Rs.11 lakhs per each transplant operation.

The waiting list earlier was of 250 patients. After the government scheme was announced, more and more patients are coming forward to take advantage. The next step for Jeevandan is to set up a Heart Transplant Center in Gandhi Hospital. In the last three months, three hearts were transported to Chennai, Dr Latha explained.

Jeevandan, an organ donation scheme of the government, has been named as having one of the best websites in the top 12 category in the country by the Union Government.