New Delhi: According to the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO), India performed 20,138 organ transplants in 2025 — the first year over the 20,000 mark for such procedures in a national-level set-up. The figure, which is a 6.5% rise over the 18,911 transplants carried out in 2024, also represents more than a fourfold increase from the 4,990 transplants performed in 2013.
This milestone was made public on the occasion of 16th Indian Organ Donation Day programme during which Union health ministry announced a series of measures to improve organ donation, enhance coordination and ensure transparency in transplantation services, making it more accesible.
Deceased donor transplants rise
The overall hat of transplants has also smirked, in combination the government; it has profiled increases in deceased insert donation. Government figures show deceased-donor transplants rose from 837 in 2013 to 3,526 in 2025. Across the country, in 2025, there were 1,235 deceased organ donors — strong growth for the organ donation ecosystem.
They may | Read more | Never miss the latest news from the Daily Star by signing up for our newsletter orgelser (NTA), organs donated after brain-stem death can save multiple lives, including kidney, liver, heart, lung and pancreas transplants. Nonetheless, deceased donation continues to be a vital space in need of better public education, hospital systems and expedited collaboration between medical establishments and transplant agencies.
Five lakh donation pledges registered
The government said on Thursday that over five lakh Aadhaar-verified organ donation pledges have been made via the national digital pledge portal released in 2023. These pledging practices reflect an increasing knowledge of organ donation and provide a means for citizens to formally pre-commit their organs for donation after death.
A pledge does not lead to money, however. However, before organs can be recovered and assigned to patients, in due time medical teams and family members are required to observe legal and clinical protocols. Hence, publics awareness campaigns are pitched which encourages families to discuss beforehand organ donation decisions.
‘Jug Jug Jiyo Abhiyaan’ launched
The year-long Jug Jug Jiyo Abhiyaan has been launched to promote organ donation across the country by the Ministry of Health. The campaign aims to motivate the public, academic institutions, health care agencies, businesses and civil-society entities to engage in awareness openings.
The initiative tackles prevalent myths surrounding organ donation and the significance of giving consent, brain-stem death certification and family discussions well in time. Officials said that long-term public outreach can help close the gap by bringing in more potential donors to donate (or wanting) their organs instead of leaving a hole between patients waiting for organs and organs available for transplant.
New e-Pratyaropan platform
One of the key announcements was the launch of e-Pratyaropan, a unified digital platform for the organ donation and transplantation ecosystem.
The platform is intended to connect:
- Donors and donor families.
- Patients awaiting transplants.
- Hospitals and transplant centres.
- State and regional transplant organisations.
- NOTTO and other regulatory authorities.
- Organ allocation and coordination networks.
According to reports, the system will support donor registration, patient wait-list management, organ allocation, hospital coordination and case monitoring. It will also allow registered patients to receive updates and file grievances, helping improve transparency in the transplantation process.
NOTTO mobile application introduced
The government has also introduced a NOTTO mobile app aimed at facilitating organ donation and transplant-related services.
It is likely to include details about donation, registration and transplantation process along with the services involved. Authorities want better communication among patients, hospitals and transplant coordinators by bringing vital resources together on a mobile platform.
Reducing delays, keeping track of records and ensuring that stakeholders are kept informed throughout the actual allocation and transport of organs makes digital tools a clear fit for this process.
New brain-stem death guidelines
The Ministry released the National Brain Stem Death Certification Guidelines to standardise the process used to certify brain-stem death.
Brain-stem death certification is a crucial step in deceased organ donation. It must be conducted by authorised medical professionals using established clinical criteria. Standardised guidelines are intended to ensure consistency, reduce confusion among families and strengthen confidence in the donation process.
Clear procedures can also help hospitals coordinate more effectively with transplant authorities when a patient is medically eligible to become an organ donor.
Guidelines for swap transplantation
The other is the new National Guidelines on Swap Transplantation released by the government. The Swap transplantation assists the patients having a willing compatible donor of organ but health-wise incompatible.
A swap involves the exchange of donors between two donor-recipient pairs that are compatible and have fulfilled legal requirements. Their implementation would help standardise such practices and make this -capital intense practice much simpler to run on a state-to-hospital basis.
This can open up opportunities for patients who, although having a donor lined up in the family, are nonetheless awaiting a transplant.
Expanding transplant capacity
Transplant services have continued to expand as part of the Government’s National Organ Transplant Programme. States are being provided financial assistance to build the robust transplant infrastructure, retain potential donors, recover organs and safe transportation of them.
The system of public hospitals has also grown. The 10 AIIMS institutions are now among the 11 conducting kidney transplants, including AIIMS New Delhi. Meanwhile, liver transplantation started at AIIMS Jodhpur, AIIMS Bhubaneswar and AIIMS Patna and AIIMS Rishikesh, while heart transplantation services initiated at AIIMS Bhopal; institutions pleasant with WHO are together whereas as much straightaway.
This expansion will address the issue of making advanced transplant services available in relatively few urban hubs and help secure better access to patients from smaller cities and underserved regions.
New state transplant organisations
Attention has also been paid to state-level coordination. Delhi, which does have a State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTTO), or an agency for it, came up during 2025–26. During the same time, four SOTTOs in the Northeast (Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh) were also inaugurated.
SOTTOs engage with hospitals, regional organisations and the national authority to coordinate donation, registration, allocation and transplantation. Faster response rates and nationwide integration of local hospitals into the transplant network can be ensured by more robust state-level institutions.
Financial support for patients
The government further clarifies that kidney transplantation is covered under the Health Benefit Package of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana while the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi also extends financial help to economically weaker patients who fulfill preset criteria.
Transplant surgery, post-operative care and medicines (for a lifetime) can add significantly to the financial burden families have to deal with. That is why public financing and assistance programs play a critical role in reducing financial barriers such that organ transplantation care is more accessible to low-income household patients.
One Nation, One Policy reforms
Reforms in pursuit of “One Nation, One Policy,” aimed at easing access to cadaveric organs have already been implemented. These changes were the removal of domicile requirements, abolishment of upper age limits to register in appropriate scenarios and the scrapping of registration fees for patients requesting deceased-donor organs.
The reforms are designed to increase equity by facilitating access to registration for all eligible patients, regardless of their residence state. The key will be transparent digital systems and standardised procedures that ensure these policy changes lead to more equitable access.
Challenges remain
Despite the record number of transplants, India continues to face a substantial gap between demand and supply. Thousands of patients remain dependent on waiting lists, while deceased organ donation is still lower than the country’s medical capacity and population needs.
Major challenges include:
- Limited public awareness about organ donation.
- Reluctance among families to consent to donation.
- Differences in transplant infrastructure between states.
- Shortage of trained transplant specialists and coordinators.
- Delays in organ retrieval and transportation.
- High costs associated with surgery and long-term care.
- Need for stronger follow-up support after transplantation.
Experts have emphasised that increasing transplant numbers must go together with ethical allocation, patient safety, transparency and long-term care.
A significant healthcare milestone
The over 20,000 organ transplantions a year in India are possible because more hospitals specialize on transplants, coordination has gotten better and there is greater public awareness. From 4,990 transplants in 2013 to 20,138 in 2025 has shown the astonishing growth of transplantation ecosystem within the country.
The new awareness campaign, digital pathways education platforms, mobile application and clinical care guidelines updates are intended to build upon that momentum. The real test will be who implements it better in different states, how hospitals engage and how willing citizens are to support organ donation.
These are significant steps in the right direction for what is needed for a more coordinated and equitable transplant system. But the country will need persistent efforts and greater nationwide engagement to fulfill demand for organs that could save patients’ lives.