Deceased organ donation in India reached its peak in 2016, followed by a plateau for four years, and a decline during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, last year marked a significant improvement. The 2022 data showed an increase in both living and deceased donations. Moreover, the year recorded the highest number of living kidney and liver transplants ever, with 9,834 and 2,957 cases, respectively. In 2022, the total number of liver transplants from deceased and living donors also reached an all-time high of 3,718.

Despite the progress, India is yet to achieve an organ donation rate of 1 per million population. Some Indian states have outperformed, with a few achieving donation rates as high as 34 per million population (UT-Chandigarh). However, in these states too, most donations come from just one or two cities and a few hospitals. The issue of regional disparity in donations is not unique to India and can be attributed to factors such as education and lack of access to healthcare.

Tertiary care corporate hospitals account for the bulk of donations, while public sector hospitals contribute less than 15%. Heart utilization for transplants from public care hospitals is under 10%, due to poor maintenance, compared to 70% from private hospitals. But, the true potential for deceased donation in India lies in public sector hospitals, where a large number of head trauma cases are admitted due to their medico-legal implications. If each state had one nodal hospital focused on deceased donation, it could improve the organ donation rate and provide more affordable transplant options to patients from the less affordable class. NOTTO, our national organization, is now better equipped, and it is hoped that they will work towards empowering public care facilities.

This issue is dedicated to lung transplants, and there are some interesting statistics and articles.