There are around 1,400 people on transplant waiting lists and 12,000 people on dialysis around Australia.
It’s out of this consideration that an Indian family in Brisbane has taken the pledge to donate their bodies, hoping their gesture will help create awareness in Australia's Indian community about organ donation.
Thirty-year-old Shamsher Sidhu- a fabrication engineer – says he was always encouraged by his father who wanted to donate his eyes but couldn’t do so due to pressure from the community.
“My father regretted that he couldn’t donate his eyes but he has always encouraged us to do so.”
But he says two deaths in his extended family due to organ failure prompted him to act.
“My cousin and an uncle lost their lives due to kidney failure. And I always think if they had received a donated organ in time, they would have been alive today,” Mr Sidhu told SBS Punjabi.
Mr Sidhu and his elder sister Navpreet Kaur have signed up to donate their bodies to the Royal Brisbane Hospital, while his wife Gurkiran – a cancer researcher - has listed to donate her body to the University of Queensland for medical research.
“The biggest impediment is the societal pressure and the expectations to follow the ceremonies and traditions. I don’t say these traditions are bad, they are good but those who want to do something like this, they can find that they get tied down by this pressure,” says Shamsher Sidhu.
Source: Organ and Tissue Authority
He adds that his parents agreed with his family’s decision.
“They never had a problem with this decision and we didn’t ask other relatives, they will come to know about it now.”
“I would say, it’s the most satisfying thing to know that you are helping someone live their life when you leave the world. I’m sure many people in our community would like to have this feeling,” he told SBS Punjabi.
In 2016, a seven-year-old Indian Australian, Deyaan Udani, became the youngest organ donor when he gave a new lease of life to four people – three of whom were minors.
Deeyan learned about organ donation at his school in Sydney and wanted to be listed as a donor. His parents honoured his wish after his death due to a sudden illness while visiting India.
Register and speak to your family
If you wish to be an organ donor, the first thing to do is register as an organ donor on the Australian donor register. You can do it online , and it will only take a few minutes.
You also need to speak to your loved ones and let them know that you’ve registered as a donor. When you are unable to speak for yourself, your family or next of kin are the ones who will need to confirm your decision about donation with the hospital, so it will be much easier if they’re aware of your choice.
How does it work?
One of the reasons why it’s so important to register as a donor is that very few people will qualify as organ donors when they die. Organ donation is only possible when somebody dies on a ventilator in a hospital, in an intensive care unit, which is only about 1000 people a year in Australia.
Doctors always try their hardest to save the life of a person. It's only when it becomes clear that it's not an option that donation is ever considered.
Dr Helen Opdam, the National Medical Director at the Organ and Tissue Authority, says that the donation process is extremely careful and ethical.
"The donation surgery is done by extremely skilled surgeons," she told SBS Radio. "The person is treated very respectfully, it's not disfiguring - the person can have an open-casket funeral after their donation."
Dr Opdam also says that "many families get a great deal of comfort knowing that they've honoured the wish of the person that they love and that their loved one has helped other after their death."
