Article Added On: February 05, 2005 - over 3 years ago
Title: Misconceptions limit organ donations
Author: AJIT ADHOPIA
Publication: The Toronto Star
Publication Date: January 01, 2005 - over 3 years ago
Faith Groups: Hindu
Themes: Religion and society

Abstract: A 2002 study conducted the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health in the U.S. shows that religious misconceptions are one of the major reasons people, particularly minorities, do not become blood or organ donors. Ajit Adhopia, a writer specialized in Hindu religion, reports for the Toronto Star.

February 5, 2005

Usha Chaddain of Mississauga was diagnosed with kidney failure in 1988. The 57-year-old accounts clerk underwent dialysis every other day for three years until the family of an 18-year-old man killed in a car accident donated his kidneys for transplant. Chaddain underwent the operation and gained a new lease on life, thanks to this generous act of service to humanity.

Not many Canadians are as lucky as Chaddain. According to Health Canada, about 150 Canadians die every year while waiting for an organ transplant. More than 3,700 Canadians are on the waiting list, but no more than 450 (fewer than 15 per million) offer this precious gift by signing an organ donor card. The situation is desperate and lack of public awareness seems to be the major obstacle.

A 2002 study conducted the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health in the U.S., confirmed that religious misconceptions were one of the major reasons more people, particularly minorities, do not become blood or organ donors. It concludes that no other field of medicine has raised so many spiritual, moral and ethical issues as organ transplants.

Hindu teachings, like those of other religions, offers no direct reference to this issue, but the views expressed by several Hindu leaders support organ donation.

According to the Hindu Temple Society of North America, "Hindus are not prohibited by religious law from donating their organs. This act is an individual's decision."

Dr. Madhu Sahasrabudhe, the founder of the Hindu Temple of Ottawa-Carlton concurs, "Organ donation is an individual decision ... Donation of tissue or organs to save a life takes precedence over the requirement that the dead should be cremated whole, unmutilated from head to toe."

Pundit Gyan Rajhans of Mississauga, the producer and director of the weekly Hindu radio programBhajanawali, says, "Hindus' sacred literature has stories of human organ transplant, particularly of eyes. At the time of death, the departure of the atman or the soul, the human body is of little significance, as the true identity of a person or self is the atman, not his body, name, nationality or religion. If the organs harvested from a dead body can save human lives, the best creation of God, so be it."

C.P. Gupta, president and volunteer priest of the Mississauga Arya Samaj (a reform movement in Hinduism) also sees organ transplants as congruent with Hindu beliefs and practices.

"The human body is a blessing from God Almighty to the atman and is achieved as a result of our own good and virtuous karmas or deeds during our previous life spans," he says. "It is important to protect the body.

"Nevertheless, yajna or giving or sacrificing for others, is the highest injunction of the Vedas (Hindus' primary scriptures). If someone wishes to bequeath the whole or parts of his or her body for the benefit of humanity, that is yajna in true sense."

Despite this very positive perspective, Canadian Hindus don't encourage organ donation. Pravin Bansal, a family physician in Brampton, has many South Asian patients, but cannot recall any one of them raising this issue with him.

Faith communities througout Canada, including Hindus, could be a good source of organs and save more lives, if religious and moral misconceptions about organ donations can be cleared up. Public awareness campaigns in mosques, churches and temples, in collaboration with their leaders, are a necessary first step.

Original article