Launched in the year 2013, the Jeevandhan programme of organ donation has become a great success in Telangana. In just a span of 5 years of its launch, the state of Telangana has stood number one in the country in organ donation with over 375 donors donating 1,500 organs to the Jeevandhan scheme.

However, healthcare experts and senior officials from Jeevandhan opined that this is only a beginning and the programme needs to go a long way.  “At present the donation rate of organs is only 4 per million populations. This needs to be improved a lot as the scheme is yet to gain acceptance at the community level,” says Dr. Swarnalatha, Chief of Jeevandan, government of Telangana.

At present, under Jeevandhan programme, the state is able to reap a donation of 200 kidneys per year.  However, this is not adequate to meet the ever growing demand of 1,500 kidney patients who are standing in the waiting list for a suitable donor.  

As per the data available from the Jeevandhan officials, currently there are 1,500 recipients waiting for kidney, 500 for liver and 50 for heart organs. So far during the past 5 years various patients have received 633 kidneys, 350 livers, 166 heart valves and 49 hearts through Jeevandhan programme.  In addition to this, patients have also received 8 lungs, 7 pancreas and 315 eyes through the programme.

Despite great success of the Jeevandhan scheme, what is worrying the authorities is the long waiting period. Sometimes the patients have to wait for more than 5 years to receive an organ. As per latest statistics the total number of patients seeking organ donation is more than 3,000.  “Every year lakhs of organs are going waste due to lack of awareness among the public. Religious taboos and myths against organ donation among the public is the major hurdle. It is high time we need to remove all these apprehensions and myths and promote organ donation in a big way. We are hope full that all these challenges will be over come in the coming days and the Jeevandhan programme will definitely reach to the next level,” observed Dr. Swarnalatha.

Despite occupying number one position in organ donation, the Telangana state needs to go a long way as the number of patients seeking organs is increasing every passing day. As per ministry of health and family welfare Telangana state is leading in organ donation followed by Tamil Nadu. Experts feel that the scheme should be promoted across the country and states needs to adopt flexible policies to promote organ donation in a big way.