A New Era for Organ Donation in Tamil Nadu: State Honors and Beyond

CM Stalin made a drastic announcement on 22nd September 2023 that the organ donors in the state, hereafter will receive 'state honours' during their funeral. CM Stalin's tweet said, "Tamil Nadu continues to be the leading state in the country in providing life to hundreds of patients via organ donation. This is possible owing to the selfless decision of the family members to donate the organs of the brain dead patients. In order to honour such sacrifices, funerals of the organ donors will be performed with state honours."

Already, Tamil Nadu is in number one position in India in terms of organ donation, now the announcement has paved the way for the creation of awareness about organ donation among the residents of Tamil Nadu. Many people are showing support by posting their organ donation certificate on social media.

Even political rivals such as Anbumani Ramadoss have appreciated CM Stalin's announcement. Regarding the further details of the announcement, our team collected insights from Ma. Subramanian, the Minister for Health and Family Welfare of Tamil Nadu.

Ma. Subramanian's insights about the CM's announcement:

In 2008, former CM Karunanidhi declared September 23 as the organ donation day. On this particular day, a student named Hithendran from Tiruppur met with an accident and was declared brain dead. His parents, who are doctors, decided to donate their son's organs. The brave decisions of the parents were appreciated by Karunanidhi and Stalin. In order to recognise the incident, the Tamil Nadu government has declared September 23 as the organ donation day.

The union government observes organ donation day on August 3rd every year, commemorating India's first successful deceased-donor heart transplant on August 3rd, 1994. As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, organ donation day is observed on the day of Hithendran's demise.

Previously, only 2 types of organ transplants were included in the CM's Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme. Now 8 types of organ transplants are added to the scheme including heart transplant, pancreas transplant, liver transplant, bone marrow transplant and iris transplant etc.

Likewise, the medical colleges in Tamil Nadu which were given licenses to perform organ transplants have been increased from 13 to 27. This is one of the reasons why Tamil Nadu is in number one position. Owing to its top position in the national level, Tamil Nadu received the best state award from the Union government 2 months ago.

To set an example for others, CM Stalin and his wife Durga donated their organs. Now, to create awareness and to recognise the sacrifice done by the individuals, CM Stalin has announced that the funeral of the organ donors will be performed with state honours. Immediately after the announcement, the scheme is implemented by the concerned departments.

Member of State Development Policy Council, Amalorpavanathan's opinion about CM's announcement:

There is a mismatch in the demand and supply when it comes to organ transplantation in the world. The demand is high but the availability of viable organs is very low. The high need is because of the prevailing conditions which leads to failure of organs. For example, 50% of kidney failures are caused by diabetes and diabetes is caused by hypertension etc.

In order to prevent such conditions in the budding stage, Tamil Nadu has launched the Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam scheme (Medical care at people's doorstep). Preventing diseases and medical conditions reduces the need for organ transplantation which in turn reduces the need for organ donation.

The first step in addressing the deficit in organ transplantation is prevention of diseases and other medical conditions like diabetes, hypertension etc. The next step is creating awareness about organ donation, so that the family members of brain dead patients can donate the organs which will help in reducing the deficit.

Doctor Ashok's opinion:

Hithendran's father Dr. Ashok said, "We are creating awareness among the school children. My son was 15 years old when he met with an accident. I am sharing my life experience with the parents as well as the students so that they don't have to be in my position ever. CM Stalin, on his part announced that the funerals of organ donors will be conducted with state honours. The announcement gives great recognition to the organ donors."