National Organ Donation Day 2024: Significance, History & Government Schemes

Every year on August 13, World Organ Donation Day is marked to highlight the essential role that organ donation plays in saving lives. This historic day, which falls on a Tuesday in 2024, attempts to bring attention to the urgent need for more organ donors all throughout the world. The day promotes organ donation as a life-saving choice for people, encouraging them to help patients with chronic illnesses by giving their kidneys, hearts, pancreas, eyes, and lungs. "Be the Reason for Someone's Smile Today!" is this year's campaign slogan, which aims to encourage people to think about becoming organ donors and improve the lives of others.

National Organ Donation Day 2024: Significance

World Organ Donation Day promotes a culture of donating and life-saving in addition to increasing awareness. This day is essential for spreading awareness of the critical need for organ donors and the possibility for organ donation to save lives. Despite its significance, a lot of false beliefs prevent people from donating. By promoting educated decision-making and supplying correct information, World Organ Donation Day seeks to debunk these myths.  Giving one's organs to a needy person after death is a legally recognized procedure that frequently helps a close relative. The 2024 observance is essential for drawing attention to this problem and motivating more individuals to think about donating their organs.

National Organ Donation Day 2024: History 

On December 23, 1954, Ronald Lee Herrick became the first organ donor when he gave his twin brother Richard a kidney in a transplant carried out by Dr. Joseph Murray, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1990 for his contributions to the field of organ transplantation. In order to encourage organ donation and remove misconceptions, WHO and ISOD initiated World Organ Donation Day in the early 2000s. It has been more well-known throughout the world over time, and the 2024 observance will continue to highlight the need for more donations. First observed on November 27, 2010, National Organ Day was shifted to August 3, 2023, in remembrance of the first successful deceased-donor heart transplant in India, by NOTTO.

National Organ Donation Day 2024: Government Schemes 

• The Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994 - This law was modified in 2011 to permit organ swapping and to increase the pool of donors for organ donation in India.
• The National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) - It is the top entity within the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in charge of managing organ and tissue procurement, distribution, and the maintenance of a national registry.
• National Organ Transplant Programme - This program focuses on training staff and encouraging deceased organ donation.
• One Nation Organ Donation Policy - It aims to uniformly govern and promote voluntary organ donations throughout India.