Prayagraj: A resolve made before death can give several people a second chance at life, but a shortage of organ, eye and body donations in Prayagraj is leaving patients waiting, while medical students struggling for adequate learning resources. On World Organ Donation Day, observed on Aug 13 to raise awareness about the life-saving importance of organ donation, the situation at the city’s major medical institutions highlights urgent need to turn pledges into actual donations.One organ donor can potentially save up to eight lives. At SRN Hospital, the kidney transplant programme, which was launched in Mar, has already created hope for patients of kidney failure. According to Dr Arvind Gupta, head of nephrology department, 22 patients are expected to benefit from kidney transplantation. The process for the hospital’s second kidney transplant is underway.There is a major shortage of body donors in the city. At Motilal Nehru Medical College, MBBS students do not get adequate opportunities to study human anatomy because of a limited number of bodies donated. Prof Badal Singh of the anatomy department said one cadaver can be studied by 10 to 12 medical students, but due to shortage, 20 to 22 students often study one body.Under the Yug Dadhichi campaign, the medical college received 111 body donations between 2011 and Jun 2026. Around 200 students are admitted to the MBBS course every year, requiring nearly 20 cadavers annually. However, the college receives an average of only seven bodies a year, barely one-third of the requirement.Prof Singh said a donated body is studied by first-year MBBS students for three to four years. It is subsequently buried on the medical college campus. After six months, the bones are retrieved and preserved for students to study for about eight years.Prayagraj has remained the biggest contributor to body donation. Between 2011 and 2024, the anatomy department received 87 donated bodies, including 64 from Prayagraj, nine from Kanpur, six from Kaushambi, three from Pratapgarh and others from Fatehpur, Varanasi, Ghazipur and Satna. Of all the donors, 18 were women.The shortage of eye donors is stark. Dr Jitendra Singh of Manohar Das Eye Hospital said 1,460 people pledged to donate their eyes between 2024 and 2026. During past three years, corneal transplants gave sight to 125 needy people. However, 220 others are still waiting for corneal transplants, underlining the need for more people to convert their pledges into actual eye donations.
