Pledge to Donate Organs While Applying For Driving License in India

The government is stressing on pledging to donate organs while applying for a driving license. Currently, less than 1 percent has agreed to donate their organs, if they meet with a fatal accident. Trying to increase the share, the driving license application comes with a provision which lets an applicant pledge his or her organ donation. Among the new license holders, about five lakh out of nine crores had pledged to donate their organs.

While the change in application form came into force from April 1, some regional transport offices (RTO) have already been reaching out to people, in collaboration with advocacy groups. According to a The Times of India report, a central government official said, "We are compiling organ donors' data. As we have changed the application format, which every RTO across the country has to follow, there will be an increase in the number of such pledges."

Priyanka Shylendra, the chief executive officer of Gift Your Organ Foundation, which pressed on bringing the change in driving licence application format, said this will bring more awareness among the public. She was quoted as saying, "When we interacted with people from different walks of life, we found they are keen to donate organs. What is needed is awareness and making the process simple."

She said her foundation undertook an awareness initiative from 2012 to 2015 at nine RTOs in Bangalore. Adding she said, "We made 1.72 lakh people aware and through this initiative, 62,000 people pledged. The initiative was introduced at a Mumbai RTO in 2013 and 15,000 people were made aware." Organisations working in this field have been working towards the quick transfer of accident victims to specialised hospitals to complete the organ donation process.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 06, 2018 11:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).