New Delhi:  Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Varun Gandhi on Thursday said that he would introduce a Private Member’s Bill, proposing to make it compulsory for adults to register themselves as organ donors for promoting cadaver donation. The said Bill is aimed at reducing deaths that occur because of a shortage of organ donors.

Using the hashtag #OrganDonationDay, Varun Gandhi tweeted that he will introduce the Bill to promote organ donation from cadavers, or a person who has been declared dead. This Bill, if passed, would automatically put all adult citizens in a national organ donation register, but with the choice to opt out.

A Private Member’s Bill is a piece of Legislation proposed by a Parliamentarian in individual capacity and has nothing to do with their political affiliation. The “Donation and Transplantation of Human Organ Bill, 2020” is likely to be introduced by the Pilibhit MP in the upcoming Monsoon Session of the Parliament, scheduled for August-end or September.

Lack of strong policies to make organ donation compulsory leads to the death of over five lakh people every year in India, Varun said on World Organ Donation Day. “Every year, India needs about 2 lakh kidneys, 50,000 hearts and 50,000 livers for transplantation,” he said, adding that the rate of organ donation from the dead is very low, at 0.8 per million population.

Organ donation in India is largely from living donors, he said advocating for a shift in organ donation policy from the current opt-in system instead of an opt-out system, where every individual shall become a donor by default under the law and this will ensure increase in the rate of cadaver donations.

“The Bill proposes to make it compulsory for a citizen, turning 18 years old to be registered as an organ donor unless an objection notice was filed by the person,” the Pilibhit MP said.