Goa CM Sawant pledges to donate organs as part of nationwide drive

Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday announced that he has pledged to donate his kidney, liver and cornea as part of a nationwide campaign by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to promote organ donation.

The CM signed up for organ donation via the Union ministry of health and family welfare’s organ registration website in the presence of journalists at the state BJP headquarters on Thursday to pledge to donate.

“I have today pledged to donate my kidneys, liver and cornea. I call on everyone to do the same. There is often a fear that when you sign up your organs will be taken out of you, but they can only be harvested from patients who are brain dead or from those of heart-related deaths if they reach the hospital on time (for harvesting),” Sawant told reporters.

Sawant, however, in a lighter vein, said that he wasn’t donating his heart because “Goa is in my heart and that is where it will remain.”

On September 16, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya led the pledge for organ donation and called on others to do the same.

To register to donate organs on the national portal, the only requirements are the Aadhar number and the Aadhar-linked mobile number.

“It is a noble thought to be in use for giving new life to others. I subscribe to the thought and have decided to pledge for organ donation. I appeal to everyone to subscribe to the noble cause and pledge for organ donation,” Sawant wrote on X.