Other than pledging their eyes not a single celebrity is among the 300 donors who have pledged their body or vital organs for charity

Don't bank on the stars

Other than pledging their eyes not a single celebrity is among the 300 donors who have pledged their body or vital organs for charity

Kolkata's Marxist leader Jyoti Basu who donated his body for the sake of science inspired an entire generation in West Bengal to come out and do the noble deed. But if doctors in the state are to be believed, such a wave in our state may not come for ages.

The primary reason is that no celebrity or politician is interested in body or organ donation.

In Pune, nearly 280 patients are on the waiting list for kidney donations. On an average four kidney donations happen every year making it an impossible 70-year long wait for new patients.

In Mumbai, the situation is no better with a waitlist of over 950 patients and about 34-odd donations on a yearly average.

Role models
Yet those who are supposed to be our society's role models like celebrities and politicians are least affected by this situation.

According to state officials, not a single actor, politician or influential personality figures in the list of donors who have pledged their body for donation after death. Similar is the state of donation of vital organs like kidneys, liver etc. where more than 300 people have pledged their organs but none is a celebrity.

"We have a list of over 200 people but I can't recollect a single actor, politician or anyone who has pledged their body or vital organs for donation. Only one MP from Dhulia had pledged her body to the medical college many years ago, but after that no one has shown interest," said Dr Parvin Shengare, joint director of the Directorate of Medical Education and Research, that oversees and approves cadaver donations in the state.

In fact some celebrities have even done endorsements for organ donation, yet they are to enlist their own names on the list.

"Some celebrities have done promotional videos for us, but no one has pledged their organs. It is the middle class that leads the way in promoting science not the stars. The most donations come from the Jain community followed by Gujaratis. Even senior citizens form a bulk of our donors," said Vatsala Trivedi, senior member of Zonal Transplant Co-ordination Committee, Mumbai.

Eye donations
While a few celebs have pledged to donate their eyes, doctors say that the dire need of the hour is to raise the number of voluntary donations of vital organs.

"People are dying of the wait, this is life-threatening. And we all know the power that celebrities hold. Once Aishwarya Rai pledged her eyes, there was a wave of eye donations. Similarly more celebs should come forward and set an example by pledging their organs," said Trivedi.