Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Nov 10: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today presented, the first-of-its-kind, public awareness book on the subject of “Body – Organ Donation” to President of India, Ram Nath Kovind.
The brief ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhawan was marked by a programme attended by several such persons who have pledged their body organs for donation as well as those who have been recipients of kidney, heart or other transplant. “Dadhichi Deh Dan Samiti” led by noted social activist, Alok Kumar and representatives of other NGOs working for the cause of promoting voluntary body organ donation also attended the function. The book published by Prabhat Publishers New Delhi is edited by journalist Arun Anand.
Speaking about the book after presenting its first copy to President Ram Nath Kovind, Dr Jitendra Singh said, voluntary body organ donation has still not picked up in the Indian society because of a number of age- old traditional beliefs, superstitions and above all, lack of scientific temper. He said, but the most worrisome feature is that even for those who want to voluntarily donate their organs, the facility is not easily available and either a donation center is not available or even if it is available, the procedure is sometimes so tedious that it kills the initiative of the potential donor.
Narrating his personal experience, Dr Jitendra Singh recalled, when he offered to donate his eyes nearly 30 years ago, there was not a single eye donation center in whole of North India and finally, he had to contact “Times Eye Foundation” set up by the “Times of India” group.
President Ram Nath Kovind complimented all those promoting organ donation in the society.
He said that even today, lakhs of people are in – waiting for a kidney donor and if the nation takes up the cause on priority, it will be a great service to mankind. He also called for giving up old superstitions which sometimes discourage organ donation.
Calling upon the countrymen to give high priority to individual health and maintain high levels of fitness, President Kovind advised that each one of us owes it to the society and the nation to ensure that we are in the best of health. If our own health is not optimum or our own kidney or organs are failing, how would we be able to donate it to someone else and benefit him if our own organ is not fit for donation, he said.
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