Every year on August 13th, we observe World Organ Donation Day, which is observed worldwide to raise awareness about organ donation and to motivate people to donate.
As you know, we have the ability in the modern world to save lives through organ transplantation, and thousands of people around the world are currently waiting for an organ transplant.
World Organ Donation Day History:
Modern medical science has advanced far too quickly in a short period of time, and even the history of organ transplantation is relatively new, with the first successful living donor organ transplant occurring only in 1954 in the United States.
Many of its recent achievements include Dr. Joseph Murrray receiving the Noble Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1990 for successfully performing a kidney transplant between twin brothers Ronald and Richard Herrick.
There are many accounts of human history that mention organ transplantation in mediaeval times, but there is no evidence that those were successful, so it is assumed that most of them failed, and even if they weren’t, they can’t be called safe as of today’s medical science.
And since we discovered a way to transplant organs and since its introduction, it has helped to save thousands, if not millions, of lives around the world, as thanks to further advances in medical science, every major part of the human body, be it heart, kidney, or liver, can now be transplanted.
World Organ Donation Day Significance
Even though we have discovered all of the methods of organ transplantation to help humans, people are still suffering because most patients are in desperate need of organs for transplantation. As you are aware, functional organs from other people are required for organ transplantation, and those people are known as organ donors.
However, there aren’t many organ donors in the world, so most patients continue to suffer due to a lack of organs. To address this issue, only World Organ Donation Day is observed annually with the goal of raising awareness about it among the general public and motivating them to donate organs.
Also, most organ donors are deceased donors, which means that when you die, your parts remain functional in your body for a long time, and only surgeons will transplant your parts to a needy person during that time.
This is a very good and noble deed, but people who sign up for organ donation are few and far between because most people are hesitant to do so or simply do not think about it in their busy lives. So the primary goal of this day is to change people’s attitudes and encourage them to donate their organs.
Another way of organ donation is living which means a person who is very healthy can donate a organ when he is alive as well but it can only be done in exceptional cases like kidneys as a person can survive with one kidney. However, it is very unlikely and poses a risk of health to the donor as well so it is not recommended and only can be applied in extreme cases.
