Gender based perspectives about organ donation among students in a medical school in North India

Abstract

Background: Deaths due to organ failure are reaching alarming numbers mainly due to paucity of organ donation. The medical students who are the future doctors hold promise to alleviate this paucity by willing to register as a donor themselves as well as facilitating cadaver organ donation process. Objective was to assess the perspectives (awareness and attitudes) of medical students regarding organ donation.Methods: The present cross sectional descriptive study was conducted among 280 undergraduates’ students of Government Medical College Jammu, J and K, India. A pretested and self administered 22 item questionnaire was used to collect information on socio-demographic characteristics (5), to assess awareness (11) and attitude (6) about organ donation.Results: Higher proportion of female students were aware about transplantation of human organ act (p<0.05). Awareness about organ donation card was very poor among both the sexes. Only 77.50% of the respondents were aware of the legal age for organ donation. Higher proportion of male students considered themselves to be future organ donor (p<0.05) although both the sexes wanted to be informed more on organ donation. Organ could be wasted (47.14%) was the main barrier among respondents for organ donation.Conclusions: The awareness and attitude among the respondents were found to be non-desirable on many parameters. Authors suggest introduction of a teaching module which should include all aspects of organ donation in medical schools starting from first profession onwards.

Barriers towards deceased organ donation among Indians living globally: an integrative systematic review using narrative synthesis

“… 49 64 68 69 75 86–89 A qualitative study from an urban area in the southern region of India also found brain death as a new concept for many and hard to accept among the public. 90 Also, many were not aware about the organ donor card, 67 83 88 91–94 where and how to register and obtain an organ donor card 40 50 53 55 56 70 71 94 95 —an important component for organ donor registration. In addition, knowledge on the law that governs organ donation was also found to be low.…”

“…In addition, knowledge on the law that governs organ donation was also found to be low. 40 71 92 96 97 Though a study among Indians living in UK showed that disinterest, emotional distaste, family opposition and religion to be the underlying cause for reluctance to register, 58 among Indians living in India, the awareness on brain death, organ donor card, where and how to register were reported as important factors along with family and religion among individuals who were willing to register. 40 49 50 53 55 64 67 69–72 86 91–96 98 …”

“…52 65 68 90 93 100 115 116 While majority were willing to be an organ donor, 27 43 45 47 48 53 58–61 they were unaware on how to register to be an organ donor. 40 50 53 55 56 70 71 94 Therefore, further campaigns on registration procedure information will enable to improve organ donation in India.…”