All about Organ donation and organ transplantation.

1. What is the difference between Organ donation and organ transplantation?
- The literal meaning of Organ donation is to give your organs willingly to the medical institutes, particular patients in need or organ banks. And organ transplantation is a medical procedure through which the organ from a live body is replaced with another vital organ using various surgical procedures. Organ donation and organ transplantation are related but not always combined. A person can donate organs after his or her death and those functional organs can be used for transplantation after tests. Please note that the vital organs cannot be kept outside the body for a longer duration and need to transplant as soon as possible.

2. When, how and at what age can one donate their organ?
- For organ donation, a person should be an adult (at least 18 years old). The procedure includes filling of form and its submission. In that form, you need to fill your personal details like age, address, medical condition (if any), organs you want to donate, etc. This form also asks for 2 witnesses from your side. Once this filled form is received by the specific hospital, they will send you an organ donation card with contact details of the hospital where you want to donate your organs. At the time of your death (brain dead), your family members need to contact them for body/ Organ collection on an urgent basis.

3. What are the procedures (legal and hospital formalities) to be an organ donor?
- In 1994, The Transplantation of Human Organ and Tissue Act was passed with a purpose to regulate and manage the organ and tissue donation for therapeutic and medical reasons for not for commercial benefits.
The procedure is very simple. As mentioned in the above answer, the donor just needs to fill up the form with the details of 2 adult witnesses and submit it. No medical check-ups are required for this. All the tests are done during transplantation procedures. The family also needs to give consent for organ donation, especially in the case of a brain dead person. As the doctor receives information about organ donation, he contacts the recipient or patient with organ failure to reach the hospital. The organ then gets retrieved from the body of the donor and then gets transplanted into the recipient body after checking its compatibility.

4. What organs can be donated and when can these organs be donated?
- Most of the body organs including heart can be donated now. One of the 2 functional kidneys and liver can be donated when you are alive as your body can work normally with a single healthy kidney also and the liver can re-grow back to normal. All other organs are donated at the time of death (mostly brain dead) but must be done within a short period. Different body organs have different time span or viability in which they need to be removed from the body after death and can be preserved alive for transplantation. The heart can be transplanted within 4-6 hours, the liver can be transplanted within 6-12nhours, and kidneys are viable up to 30 hours after retrieval from the body. The intestines and pancreases need to transplant within 6 hours. Normally, Kidney, Liver, Lungs, Heart, Intestine and Pancreases can be donated but many people donate their whole body for medical colleges.
If the whole body is donated, tissues can also be used to transplantations and these include cornea tissues from eyes, bones, veins, skin, tendons, etc. Please note that in India, the case of organ donation after heart arrest is very rare.

5. What care should one take for Organ donation and organ transplantation?
- For organ donation, the family of the organ donor must be aware of this and at the time of death, they must contact the hospital team to collect the body immediately. The hospital team will come at the earliest and will take the body to hospital. They the expert doctors will check the functional organs (depending upon the cause of death) and will preserve them for transplantation.

6. Does any religion has restrictions in donating the organ, if yes, why?
-Most of the religions have restrictions in donating organs because every religion has its own defined last rituals and these rituals are must for the peace of soul. In the case of natural death, many families even deny postmortem for the same reason.

7. Any other details needed for the same.
- You may have the contact details for organ donation-
i) Mohan Foundation- It has many centers in India (Organ Donation Helpline - 1800 1037100)

ii) King Edward Memorial Hospital, Mumbai (Tel.: 91-22-24107000)

1. Organ donation is to donate the organ belonging to him for the body of another person. Organ Transplantation is removing the organ from the donor and placing it in the body of another person that is the receptor. The receptor is the person who is getting this organ as his organ was not in working condition. This transplantation is to be carried out by a qualified doctor surgeon at the consent of the donor. People can donate organs even though there is no receptor immediately but they should be transplanted from him to another within the prescribed time.
2. Organs can be donated by any person who is a major that means who completed his 18th year. There will be a form and that is to be filled and signed by the donor and two witnesses should also sign as evidence that the person is really interested in donating the organ. You will have a card issued by the concerned authority which is an indication that you are willing to donate. Your family should contact them immediately after death so that they can do the needful within the stipulated time.
3. The Transplantation of Human Organ and Tissue Act is the base for regulating this organ donation. It is the duty of the concerned authorities to see that the donation should not be for commercial reasons. If any such indications are there means the donation can't be accepted.
4.If there are two organs one you can donate while you are alive also. But the organs which are only one number is available can be donated after death within the specified time based on the organ you are donating. Once that specified period is completed means your organ can't be serviceable further. The time duration varies from organ to organ.
Organs and tissues that can be transplanted include:
Liver, Kidney, Pancreas, Heart. Lung, Intestine, Cornea, Middle ear, Skin, Bone, Bone marrow, etc.

5. The organs which we want to donate should be in good working condition without any diseases or problems. The system of transplantation should be done before the expiry of the time limit mentioned for that particular organ. It should be done with the consent of the family members of the donor.

6. There are certain reservations in this system in some of the religions. The reasons are not known.

With the progress in surgical techniques, transplantation has becoming more popular day by day and people are going for it. The only problem is many times the part would not be available as there is no donor for it. In such cases the near and dear have to come ahead if they want to save the person.

1. Organ donation is the process of removing an organ from a willing donor to the body of the patient where this organ is to be transplanted. When a surgeon surgically implants such a body part received from outside in the body of the recipient patient then it is called transplantation. Now a days organ donation and organ transplantation has become very popular as success of this surgical attempt is quite good.

2. There is no restriction in the age of the donor but he should be in a good health condition so that the donated part can be utilised in the patient body properly. An ailing part of the body of a donor is ethically prohibited to be transplanted elsewhere. It is a crime to do so.

3. There are certain declaration to be signed by the donors regarding their body parts which they are donating. For parts belonging to dead bodies which of course are to be used within minutes of the death, the guardian or successor has to sign the declaration. Eyes of dead persons can be easily transplanted if the nearest relative voluntarily agrees for it. The recipient is also supposed to sign the forms and documents as per the hospital procedure.

4. The most common organs which are being donated by the prospective donors are kidney, liver, pancreas, and heart. There are many other body parts also which are occasionally donated by the donors for the benefit of the patient. These are Lung, Intestine, Cornea, Middle ear, Skin, Bone, Bone marrow, Heart valves, and Connective tissues.

5. Organ donation and transplantation are done only after the proper medical check up of the donor as well as patient. The type matching of the blood and other body constituents is carried out before this transplant operation. A good match will indicate the success of the transplantation.

6. There are some religious beliefs in some communities and they might not go for this type of transplantation. It is only a matter of belief and tradition within that community and it has no rational or logic as far as modern medical medicine system is considered. Religion is a personal matter and has no sanctity in the operation theatre.

Organic donation is the process of removal of an organ or tissue from one person to other through the surgical process. The person donating the same is known as organ do our and placing the same into another person is known as recipient.
Organ transplantation is one of the great advances in the modern medicine. Unfortunately, the need for the organ donor is much greater than the number of people donating the same.
The organs to be transplanted are as follows -
1) Liver 2) Kidneys 3) Pancreas 4) Heart 5) Lungs 6) Intenstine
7) Cornea 8) Skin 9) Bone 10) Bone marrow 11) Heart valves 12) Connective tissues etc.
Individuals wishing to be organ donor should have attained at least 18 years of age and the need to follow the following steps-
1) The individuals might join a donor registry. It is a way to offer a consent legally for the anatomical gift of organs.
2) They need to sign an organ donour card.
3) Family members and loved ones should know the desire of the donour.
4) The individuals may express willingness before the health care providers, lawyer and the religious leader regarding his desire to be a donour.