I feel it a privilege to honour the organ donor families for their kind and noble act of benevolence this evening. The health of its citizens is intrinsic to the development of any country. Health care is one of the key  aspects to building up a society of healthy citizens.

Diabetes happens to be one of the major health hazards facing our country. It is currently estimated that there are about 35 million diabetics in India and the number is expected to increase by another 60% by 2025. Due to uncontrolled blood sugar, the disease damages a wide variety of organs like heart, kidney, eyes leading to heart attack, kidney failure, blindness, amputation etc. WHO indicates that almost three million deaths occur world wide due to diabetes. Renal failure in Asia is growing at an     five times the rate of diabetes and at l     twice the rate of hypertension compared t  people from Western countries. Diabetes and hypertension are the major causes f   renal diseases. Prevention of kidney diseases like renal failure and cardiac diseases is the need of the hour. I am told that the transplants done in Asia currently stand at three per million population whereas it is 52 per million in USA and 27 per million in UK.

I am told that between two and three million Indians have died in the last five  years because they could not get an organ transplant. Organ transplantation saves and enhances the life of a number of patients suffering from several debilitating diseases. I am sure that cadaver organ transplantation from a brain dead person would go a long way towards helping terminally sick patients with failing organs to get a new lease life of life. No religion forbids organ donation and transplantation. All religions emphasise saving a life and helping the needy. Misconceptions about organ donation should be uprooted from the minds of the public. Promotion of awareness on cadaver organ transplantation is the need of the hour. Statistics reveal that nearly 60,000 people die annually in road accidents. I am told that as per statistics in Tamil Nadu in the year 2003 alone, 9112 have lost their lives in road accidents. If the organs from such persons are tapped fruitfully, several thousand lives could be saved.

As Thiruvalluvar said in one of his couplets (72), “Persons lacking in love towards others will utilise all their wealth towards themselves, but those who love people will utilise all their property for the benefit of others. Nay, they will consider their own body as intended for service.  It is time for a joint and concerted effort to create awareness about organ donation. Voluntary organizations like the Lions, Rotary, the Indian Red Cross and St. John’s Ambulance should join hands together to create a network with non-profit organizations like MOHAN Foundation and work for the  cause of organ donation. I am sure that with the combined efforts of the NGOs, we can make more people donate organs in line with the awakening that has been created in donating eyes. Sometime back I had also consented to donate my eyes to the Chennai Eye Bank as I felt that it would provide vision to two youngsters. The one problem faced in this issue is that if the relatives object, the organs cannot be taken from the cadaver donor. The donors who propose to donate their organs after their lifetime should inform their kith and kin about their wish to donate organs and if possible even make a will for that purpose. I am sure that this would help to overcome the hurdles for retrieval of organs from cadaver donors. On an average a brain dead donor can give life to nine patients – two corneas, two kidneys, two lungs, a heart, a liver and a pancreas. I congratulate MOHAN Foundation for its dedicated efforts in retrieving 282 kidneys, 16 hearts and 16 livers besides corneas in different hospitals in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and New Delhi in the last seven years. The 

Tamil Nadu government has taken laudable efforts through its crackdown on kidney trade. Road accident victims are generally taken to government hospitals. Enhancing the facilities in government hospitals along with a tie up with private hospitals would help a great deal in providing a new lease of life to the organ needy patients.

 I congratulate MOHAN Foundation and its team of dedicated persons on creating a network of hospitals to retrieve and share organs and for its pioneering work in the field of organ donation. I convey my warm felicitations to Dr. Sunil Shroff, Managing Trustee, MOHAN Foundation, and his team and to all those who are associated with this noble cause. I congratulate the organ donor families for their noble and kind act.

I conclude with the words,

“Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can

In all the ways you can

At all the times you can

To all the people you can

As long as ever you can

Even after your life you can.”

I wish MOHAN Foundation all success in its endeavours.