Need to establish liver transplant programmes in govt hospitals: President Kovind

President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday said there is a huge gap between the requirement and availability of organs needed for saving lives as he stressed the need to encourage organ donation.

Addressing an event to mark the 10th foundation day of the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) here, Kovind said, "In India, we need about two lakh liver transplants a year, while only a few thousand are done every year."

"There is a need to establish liver transplant programmes in more public hospitals and ILBS can provide necessary expertise in this regard," he said.

But perhaps most crucial is to encourage organ donation and spread awareness about it, he said.

"There is a huge gap between the requirement and availability of organs needed for saving lives. The dearth of donors results mainly from lack of awareness about organ donation," he said.

The President asked ILBS to prepare a roadmap suggesting ways and means to encourage liver donation, to improve related procedures and protocols, and to strengthen the infrastructure needed to support a higher number of liver transplants than is currently possible.

Kovind said the growing incidence of liver diseases is also linked to unhealthy lifestyles.

"At present, nearly one out of four Indians have fatty liver and may be 10 per cent of them have liver diseases due to excessive body fat," he said.