Satish K. V1, Chidananda P. S2, Chetan S3
ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE: Although organ transplantation can save many lives, there is a shortage of organ donors. One of the reasons for shortage of donors may be unawareness about organ donation. We conducted a cross-sectional study to assess the awareness and attitude towards organ donation among adults. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study included 200 undergraduate students, postgraduate students, nurses, teachers and public. A questionnaire was administered at the time of interview and the data was collated. RESULTS: Majority of people were aware about organ donation (73% were aware, 18% had never heard about it and 9% did not respond). About the purpose of organ donation, 66% of them felt organ donation is done to save someone’s life, 9% believed it was out of compassion/ sympathy, 9% opined that it was for money, 10% consider it as a responsibility and 6% gave other reasons. Majority (90%) of the people felt that there is some amount of risk involved in organ donation. Twenty-eight percentage of people surveyed felt that their organs would be misused and that was most common reason for not donating organs. Seventy eight percent of the participants were willing to donate organs after their death. CONCLUSION: Awareness about organ donation is good among the public and majority of the people surveyed are willing to donate organs after their death.
