What is the situation of India in the matter of organ donation?
The number of people donating organs in India is very less, hence continuous promotion is being done regarding this. Slowly but surely, the process of organ donation is gaining momentum in the country. It has also come to light that India is one of the few countries where living organ donations are much more than dead organ donations. At present, women are far ahead of men in the matter of organ donation. The government says that there are more than 60 thousand patients waiting for kidney transplant in the country.
In the last 5 years, information related to the official waiting list for organ transplant (kidney, liver, heart, lungs, pancreas and cornea) was sought in the Rajya Sabha, on which the government said that more than 60 thousand patients across the country are waiting for kidney transplant. Apart from these, there are more than 18 thousand patients waiting for liver transplant. Besides, 1695 patients are waiting for heart transplant, 970 are waiting for lung transplant and 306 patients are waiting for pancreas transplant. In this way, 82,285 patients are waiting for organ transplant.
Where are the highest number of kidney transplant cases?
The Central Government has informed the number of patients included in the waiting list on the basis of reports filed online on the National Registry Portal of the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) by the States and Union Territories till December 8, 2025. According to the released data, Maharashtra has the highest number of patients waiting for kidney transplant (60590). Kidney transplant of 13045 patients is to be done here. After this are Gujarat (7405), Chandigarh (6681), Tamil Nadu (6448) and Delhi (5894).
Similarly, in case of liver transplant, Maharashtra has the highest number of patients (6924). After this is the number of Delhi (2835). In the case of heart transplant, the waiting period is highest in Tamil Nadu. There are 345 patients in the waiting list here and 341 in Maharashtra. In terms of lung transplant, Tamil Nadu has the highest number of patients at 315. After this is Karnataka (163).
Where are most liver transplants done?
Also, in response to a question, the Central Government said that in the last 5 years (from 2020 to 2024), kidney transplant of 53198 patients was done. In this, maximum kidney transplant was done in the capital Delhi (9307). Then came Tamil Nadu (6583) and Maharashtra (5194). In these 5 years, 17939 liver transplants were done across the country. Maximum number of liver transplants (6368) took place in Delhi.
As far as heart transplant is concerned, 957 heart transplants were done in 5 years, out of which maximum 332 transplants were done in Tamil Nadu. Lung transplant was done in 76 patients while the number of people who got pancreas transplant was 130. In this way, a total of 72993 organ transplants were done in the last 5 years. Currently 82285 patients are waiting for their organ transplant.
Patient who died while waiting for transplant
patients who died in waiting list
In the reply given by the government regarding corneal transplant, it was said that a total of 1,37,761 corneal transplants were done between 2020-21 to 2024-25. Corneal transplant was done for 16353 people in Tamil Nadu, 15335 in Telangana, 11092 in Karnataka and 11081 in Maharashtra.
Regarding the number of patients who died while on the waiting list in the last five years, the government said that about 3 thousand people left this world waiting for a transplant. In the capital Delhi, the maximum number of 1425 people died while waiting for transplant. After this is Maharashtra (297) and Tamil Nadu (233). As far as Uttar Pradesh is concerned, 150 patients died while waiting. He is at number 6 in this matter.
In response to a question, the government said that during the period from 2020 to 2024, the number of registered organ donors (alive or dead) was more than 65 thousand. Out of total 65488 registered donors, 4071 donors died while 61417 donors are alive.
| Year | dying donors | living donors | total number |
| 2020 | 351 | 6461 | 6812 |
| 2021 | 552 | 10646 | 11198 |
| 2022 | 941 | 13359 | 14300 |
| 2023 | 1099 | 15443 | 16542 |
| 2024 | 1128 | 15508 | 16636 |
| total number | 4071 | 61417 | 65488 |
While the total number of donors was 6812 in 2020, it increased to 11198 in 2021. There was a slight increase in the number in 2022 and it reached 14300. Then in the year 2023 the number of donors increased to 16542. Last year in 2024, the number of registered donors was 16636.
Women ahead of men in organ donation
On the other hand, a research has revealed that women have expressed more desire to donate organs after death. Also, among the organ recipients, the number of men is more than that of women. These things came to light from an analysis of Indian driving license applications submitted in 2024, in which people were asked whether they were willing to donate their organs or tissue in the event of death.
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Even in more populous states like Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, the number of men donating organs is less than women. Here the willingness of women to donate organs was between 17% to 21%, while the number of men in this matter was only between 12% to 19%. Most of the women in Delhi (about 27%) showed this desire while only 16% of the men showed this desire. In this case, the number of men from Odisha was ahead of the country’s average. 20% of the people here wanted to donate their organs, 22% of the women here wanted to donate their organs.