Chennai, August 2025: MGM Healthcare honoured several organ donors and their family members at a special felicitation programme, recognising their invaluable contributions to saving and transforming lives. The felicitation ceremony was attended by MLA Mr. M.K. Mohan and Indian Actress Ms. Neelima Rani. The hospital also organized a walkathon themed “Miles for Lives” to raise awareness on organ donation.
Organised by MGM Healthcare’s Institute of Liver Diseases, Transplant & HPB Surgery, these events raised awareness about the importance of organ donation, while encouraging people to register as donors. The walkathon began at MGM Healthcare on Nelson Manickam Road and concluded at Tower Park, Anna Nagar, with hundreds of healthcare professionals, hospital staff, and members of the public participating enthusiastically.
In 2024, India had achieved a notable milestone of performing over 18900 organ transplants – the highest recorded in a single year when compared to 2013 which recorded fewer than 5,000 transplants. After the USA and China, India ranks third globally in the total number of organ transplants. Despite the numbers, the demand for organs far exceeds availability, making awareness and pledging essential.
In his comments, Dr. Prashanth Rajagopalan, Managing Director, MGM Healthcare, said, “MGM Healthcare is proud to organise the donor felicitation and a walkathon program. While medical science has advanced tremendously, enabling both living and cadaver donations to be safe and effective. Our organ donation rate remains strikingly low at less than one per million population, compared with over 40 per million in countries like the US and Spain. Living donors can donate a kidney or part of their liver, allowing both donor and recipient to lead healthy, fulfilling lives. Cadaver donations can save multiple lives through organs such as the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, and corneas. The main barrier is not medical feasibility, but social hesitation and lack of awareness”.
Dr. Thiagarajan Srinivasan, Senior Consultant and Director, Institute of Liver Diseases, Transplant and HPB Surgery, MGM Healthcare, said, “Organ donation is one of the greatest gifts of modern medicine, and liver transplantation exemplifies how lives can be saved and restored. The liver’s remarkable ability to regenerate makes both living and deceased donor liver transplants highly effective, with most recipients going on to lead full and productive lives. Brain-dead donors remain the cornerstone of organ transplantation, though organs from donors after cardiac death are also being used successfully worldwide. Both pathways must be promoted more widely in India to meet the growing demand. For this, hospitals must come forward to build structured, sustainable transplant programmes with trained teams, advanced infrastructure, and strong ethical practices.”
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