AP Secures 6th Rank in Organ Donation

Andhra Pradesh has secured sixth place nationally in the 2025 organ donation rankings released by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation under the Union Health Ministry. The state credits the achievement to ten years of awareness work under the Jeevandan scheme.

Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav said the ranking reflects the scheme’s impact since its 2015 launch. Transplant-capable hospitals have grown from three to nine, now including: King George Hospital and Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences in Visakhapatnam; Government General Hospitals in Guntur, Kurnool, and Vijayawada; Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences; AIIMS Mangalagiri; Padmavathi Children’s Hospital; and the Kidney Research Centre and Super Specialty Hospital in Palasa.

Hospitals in Kakinada, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Ongole, Anantapur, Kadapa, and Tirupati have been cleared for organ retrieval from brain-dead patients, expanding the network further. The Minister directed officials to increase transplants in government hospitals.

This year, government hospitals — at KGH and VIMS in Visakhapatnam and Government General Hospitals in Guntur and Kurnool — have performed eight kidney transplants and one liver transplant using organs from brain-dead donors. A heart transplant was carried out at a private hospital in Vijayawada.

Transplant numbers have grown year on year. In the first two months of 2025, organs from 18 donors helped 64 patients. In the same period last year, 12 donors helped 31 patients. In all of 2024, 10 donors enabled 30 transplants. Since 2015, the Jeevandan scheme has benefited 1,200 patients. In 2025 alone, 301 transplants have been performed.

Despite the gains, 5,347 patients remain on the waiting list, among them 38 children under nine. Most are between 20 and 50 years old. Under Government Order 95, donor families receive Rs 10,000 and State honours. The government is considering raising the cash assistance to Rs 1 lakh to encourage more donations.