Punjabi is face of organ donation campaign in US

Punjabi is face of organ donation campaign in US.

According to the United Netowrk for Organ Sharing, 21 people in the US die everyday because they did not get a healthy organ in time.

   

Five Canadians owe their lives to Vivek Pandher, a 22 year-old Indian who died of complications from heat stroke. A few months earlier, Pandher had agreed that upon his death, his organs should go to those who needed them.

Pandher’s gesture inspired Rajinder Singh Tanda (43), a family friend and an NRI in the US, to start a campaign to increase awareness on the need to donate organs. He managed enrol around 60 people in just two days.

“Vivek died in Vancouver on July 3. He was an engineering student at the University of British Columbia there,” said Tanda. “After his death, the hospital was able to transfer both his kidneys, lungs, heart, liver and pancreas to patients who needed healthy organs to survive.”
Hospitals in the US and Canada have a system where people can register their names as organ donors on a database. Doctors can easily find out if a person who died recently had signed up for donation and perform the procedure.

“The organs can be used a few hours after death,” said Tanda who had to undergo a two-month training course. “There is a lack of awareness among people in the US too. I once met a 19-year-old boy whose both kidneys were damaged but was finding it difficult to find a donor.”

According to the United Netowrk for Organ Sharing, 21 people in the US die everyday because they did not get a healthy organ in time.

“I was shocked with the kind of queries we got – many said that they will be born blind in the next birth if they donated their eyes,” said Tanda.

Tanda, who runs a transport business in the US, initiated the ‘Vivek Pandher Yadgaari Angdaan Muhim’ campaign. “The first camp was held at Yuba City Nagar Kirtan on October 30 and 31. As many as 61 people have signed for organ donation.”

“I do not consider that my son died on July 3. I believe that his life was extended on July 5 and he continues to live in those five recipients. He is now living in five souls,” said Jaswant Singh Zafar, Vivek’s father, who works with Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) in Ludhiana. Recently, the Zafar and his wife too got their organ donation cards made.