Like most countries, India has a huge shortage of organ transplant donors. About 150,000 people every year, for example, are diagnosed with kidney disease for which an organ transplant is the only solution and yet only 3,000 are able to benefit from this procedure. Since the 1980s, organ transplants have had a very high percentage of success and to some extent have become commonplace – the only problem being the lack of donors.
Some countries are looking at the possibility of introducing a default ruling so that it is assumed that a person’s organs are available for donation on their death rather than explicit permission needing to be sought. However, at the moment, this is not the case in India where Priyanka Chopra has announced that she has signed-up to be an organ donor alongside former President Abdul Kalam. “I, Priyanka Chopra, hereby pledge to donate my organs in case of brain death.” she says, “I am proud to be a child of an army officer and happy that the armed forces are doing so well in the field of organ donations,” she added. “I know the value of organ donation as my father at one point was deeply in need of one. As conscious individuals we should all pledge to donate our organs. If we cannot live as good human beings we can be nice at least after our death. Life is beautiful and let’s live longer by donating organs.”
Meanwhile, Priyanka, who has not had the best of years so far, is looking forward to what she hopes will be a triple hit in the closing months with Drona, Dostana and Fashion. She’s also looking forward to playing twelve roles in one film – one role for each sign of the zodiac – in What’s Your Rashee? The movie will also star her Love Story 2050 co-star Harman Baweja. We hope that’s not a bad sign!
