Lack of awareness about organ donation and unwillingness of people to donate their relatives’ organs are among the main reasons behind the rising number of patients languishing on a transplant waiting list, experts have said.

Dr K R Balakrishnan, Chairman of Cardiac Sciences at MGM Healthcare, said people don’t come forward to donate the organs of their loved ones after their death due to lack of awareness and myths associated with it. “India is far behind other nations in terms of having access to donated organs. One of the primary causes of this is a lack of awareness regarding organ donation,” Dr Balakrishnan, who is also the Director of the Institute of Heart and Lung Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support (IHLTMCS) at the Chennai-based facility, said at a press conference in New Delhi on June 8.

One deceased donor may save eight lives, he said, adding the purpose of this gathering of organ transplant recipients and the medical team is to raise awareness of organ donation and disseminate the word far and wide.