Delhi (AsiaNews) – In India, women are also discriminated in terms of organ donation, this according to a report published by The Times of India, based on data collected on transplants between 1995 and 2021.
In particular, of the 36,640 interventions carried out in the country, about 29,000 involved men and only 6,945 women. Overall, four men get organ transplants for every woman.
For the authors of the investigation, more men contribute as dead donors, in a continent where the practice has struggled to be accepted, fuelling the black market and organ trafficking. Conversely, most living organ donors are women.
A study published in 2021 in the Experimental and Clinical Transplantation Journal analysed organ transplants in 2019, showing that women represent 80 per cent of living organ donors, mainly wives or mothers, while 80 per cent of recipients are men.
One reason for women to be living organ donors is likely their greater vulnerability to “pressure” towards "sacrificing" themselves and donating a body part to save their husband, children or siblings.
“Gender disparity in organ donation is a reality not just in India, but the world over, studies and experts indicate,” said Dr Pascoal Carvalho, an Indian doctor and member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, speaking to AsiaNews.
“Cultural and societal norms often view women as caregivers and nurturers, a fact attributable to our society's mindset and patriarchal society,” he explained.
“We need to find out the reasons for the existing gender imbalance and check it for matters of fairness and undue pressure or coercion on the women for organ donation.”
In the past, the Indian Church has worked hard to promote organ donation, in a country – and more generally a continent – where reluctance to support the practice was and is still strong in many groups.
In 2016, dozens of Indian nuns from different congregations pledged to donate corneas upon their death, as part of a programme promoted by the Claretian Fathers of the Indian Institute of Spirituality in Bengaluru (Bangalore).
Titled "The Project Vision” the initiative aimed at raising awareness on the issue of visually impaired people, in a country where one third of the world's blind people live.
Eye donation is not widespread in India. Every year, 140,000 people need a corneal transplant, but the number of donors does not exceed 40,000. This means that 100,000 patients are placed on waiting lists.
Jerry Rosario, a professor of theology and social activist from Tamil Nadu (southern India), founded a movement called Dhanam (donate) to raise awareness in the country about blood and organ donations, which are regulated by a 1994 law.
In general, Asians are reluctant to donate organs despite the fact that there is an underground market for organs sold by poor people, as or in the case of China, forcibly removed from prisoners – in particular, those sentenced to death.
In 2006, senior Chinese government officials "admitted" that death row inmates are the basis of organ trafficking, while claiming to adhere to a "code of conduct”.
