Organ Donation: Life After Death

If Life is Meaningful Why Not Death?

Jash Oza, a two-and-a-half-year-old, innocent boy, and the apple of the eyes of all his loved ones in Surat gifted new lease of life to five others including two four-year-old children from Russia and Ukraine. On December 9, Jash fell from the second floor balcony of his neighbor’s house in Surat. He suffered a brain haemorrhage and, on December 14, doctors declared him brain dead.

Fondly called as ‘Babu’, when left his parents bereaved, devastated and lifeless, how difficult it must have been for them to decide and agree for the cadaver donation that none can even imagine. But thanks to the NGO, Donate Life which made the efforts to bring hope and survival to five more lives. His heart and lungs were transported to Chennai within 160 minutes and heart was transplanted into a 4-yr-old child from Russia and lungs given to a 4-yr-old from Ukraine. Kidneys were transplanted into two girls and liver was donated to a 2-year- old girl. The resplendence, Jash has left behind is eternal, or we can say Jash has gone nowhere he is still alive, his heart is still beating and eyes are shining as brightly as ever. He is going to live forever. We salute to the parents for contributing to this noble and altruistic cause.

Every year 5 lakh Indians lose their lives waiting for an organ and  more than half a million Indians are  in dire need of an organ transplant- kidney, liver, heart, pancreas and so on and it is estimated that 90% of patients waiting to receive an organ die without getting one. Kidney transplants are the most common in India and only one out of 30 patients receives one.  What is exasperating is that the second most populous country in the world has a donation rate of only 0.26 per million people that means only one out of 4 million people chooses to be an organ donor. And this wide gap in the country is due to myriad of myths, cultural beliefs, traditions and ritual practices.

With the increasing number of deaths due to organ failure, it becomes imperative to get the low-down of this humane attempt for saving lives. The most popular myth about organ donation is that if we are cremated or buried without our organs, in the next life we are born without these, which is completely an absurd notion. How one can carry his organs to his next birth if one can’t carry any of his possessions? Most of the religions teach the principle that a body is just like apparel and soul is immortal. It’s the soul that dons the body as apparel and leaves when the life span is over. None of the religions object to organ donation and transplantation. On the contrary, religions endorse the act of giving and donating and what bigger form of giving can there be than giving life. A pervasive notion about organ donation is the belief that patients will not be treated carefully when required if they are registered organ donors.  A recent survey conducted by a national newspaper revealed that 28% of a total of 641 urban respondents believed that organ donors will not receive any lifesaving treatment while 18% believed that their bodies will be mutilated which is a fallacy.

Interesting Read: Can Gratitude Be Enforced?

There are nearly 300 deaths everyday due to organ failure and to combat this number our country needs organ donors. Out of the 9.5 million deaths in India every year, at least one lakh are believed to be potential donors; however less than 200 actually choose to become donors. The remaining about 99,800 are lost. At any given time, a major city in the country has 8-10 brain deaths in the various ICUs and the conversion of these brain dead patients into donors can take care of the long waitlist of end stage organ failure patients. Organ donation is a kind and noble act that harms none but helps many.

Organ donation promotes a noble, humane spirit in society. It means that one is desirous of extending one’s spirit to others even after one’s death. Each of us can save 8 lives and we believe this is the best legacy any of us can leave behind as many unfortunate ones are waiting for an organ to embrace a fresh lease of life.

While ending this blog, I am leaving you to take time off and ruminate over this: “If life is meaningful why not Death?”

Let’s pledge to be an organ donor!

When Anguish is Anticipated from All

Value of Co-existence and Harmony

Three female elephants have been found dead in north Chhattisgarh- in less than three days- leading the forest department to suspect they were poisoned as all three carcasses had foam at the mouth. The more painful fact about the dead tuskers is that two of the dead elephants were pregnant. During post-mortem it was found that the elephants had charred skin inside their mouth, congested lungs and intestinal haemorrhage. All are indicative that the three consumed something toxic and poisonous.

I have more to say

On May 27, a pregnant elephant in Palakkad, Kerala, was reportedly fed a fruit stuffed with firecrackers. Despite its agony, it chose to die quietly, harming none.

The recent brutal killing of a pregnant elephant has shocked many but the more appalling is that the incident is not a crime committed for the first time neither it will be curbed so easily. Moreover, it has uncovered other instances of cruelty towards animals and the ugly realities of the human intervention into wildlife. It’s quite evident that such heinous acts towards these gentle creatures are grave repercussions of human-animal conflicts, erupting often across the country, triggered by deforestation, habitat loss and unplanned expansion and urbanization. The shrinking of natural habitat has resulted in elephants and other wild animals venturing into human territories, leading to casualties on both sides. To save their crops from collapse and destruction by these pachyderms, farmers often use brutal methods like fireworks, poison and electrocuted fences.

The more abominable is that poachers are hell-bent on involving local villagers to poison the water bodies in the path of elephant herds to try to kill tuskers.

In a country, like India where ‘Gajanana’, the elephant-headed is an epitome of fulfillment of one’s desires, attainment of wealth, prosperity and surmounting all the hurdles and roadblocks in one’s ways to success, elephants are being treated so vilely. 

Here are a few facts:

• India has about 27000 wild elephants. It has been reported that explosive-laden fruits, electric fences and crude bombs are used to keep away these pachyderms from eating farm produce.

• There are over 3000 elephants in captivity in India. From tourism to agricultural labour, logging and participation in weddings and religious rituals, elephants are used in multiple forms of work.

• Captive elephants are often kept standing for hours, chained or shackled, with even spikes embedded in their ankles.

• Young calf elephants are separated from their mothers and beaten and starved into submission.

• Many elephants work over 20 hours a day, exposed to heat, noise pollution, crowds, firecrackers, unhygienic conditions and dangerous transportation.

• In 2018, Raju, a captive elephant, forced to beg by his owner, was rescued by Wildlife SOS which found Raju starved, beaten, chained and wounded by metal spikes in his feet. Having suffered such cruelty for 50 years, Raju wept upon his rescue.

The brutal death of the Jumbo, stirred the country and the perpetrators were condemned by all walks of life but will this sudden flow and flood of anguish and condemnation suffice to restrain such atrocities against animals in future? No, not really, unless we control the excessive economies of demands so that human intervention can be extenuated in tuskers’ natural habitats.  Can we understand the value of co-existence and harmony among all living beings? How could the politicians (though laced with their insinuations on the horrible death of the elephant) oversee that parts of an elephant sanctuary in Assam were handed over to coal mining – less than two months ago? How the stakeholders can be so indifferent towards wildlife protection?  

Positive Read: How Jainism Can Help Us Fight Corona Virus

The anguish is anticipated from all on such cruelty against animals and we strongly feel a need to inspire a wider learning experience, with both systemic reforms and individual changes. We must be more responsible towards the environment and more mindful about our own needs. Our patterns of consumption are causing the increasing intrusion of humans into natural spaces which is a growing threat to sustain our ecosystem as well as the ecological balance. If it persists for little longer, the day is not far when we will remain confined in the miasma of utter despondency of losing many precious life forms on this beautiful planet.  We need to understand that every animal has unique identity and importance of its own. 

We must respect their space - and their right to live.