Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Wednesday conferred Suraj Award posthumously on 24 cadaveric donors and felicitated their kin on the occasion of the World Organ Donation Day..
Health and Family Welfare Minister Mukesh Mahaling gave away the award of Rs 5 lakh to each of the bereaved families. The immediate family members of the organ donors were also honoured by the respective district collectors after the token distribution of the awards by the minister here.
The recipient are Rashmi Prava Patel of Jharsuguda district, Sibun Siddharth Sahu of Nayagarh district, Bikash Kumar Sahu of Khurda district, Manoj Kumar Sahu of Kendrapada, Alekh Prasad Parida of Balasore, Prahallad Raut of Cuttack, Lata Mahant of Keonjhar, Late Janmes Lenka of Sundargarh, Pradeep Kumar Jena of Khurda, Swashriayan Patra of Mayurbhanj, Biswajit Das of Angul, Jayanta Kumar Khamari of Khurda, Ajay Kumar Giri of Kendrapada, Asish Chhalsing of Koraput, Chandrasekhar Nayak of Rayagada, Narasingha Prasad Maharana of Gajapati, Pandae Sabar of Gajapati, Sarat Chandra Biswal of Kendrapada, Pilant Sabar of
Rayagada, K. Naresh Pattnayak of Gajapati, Arun Bhuyan of Gajapati, Soumya Ranjan Behera of Khurda, Shiba Prasad Jena of Bhadrak, and Rina Prusty of Khurda.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that enlivening others in the aftermath of one’s death through organ donation is a higher order of noble act. “Your donations have not only saved lives of others but also have brought honour to Odisha at the national level as an emerging state in organ donation,” he said, while paying homage to the departed souls.
Secretary Health and Family Welfare Aswathy S said that one organ donor could save the lives of eight persons in critical stages of their lives. “Even one organ donor through tissue donation could give life-relief to around 50 people,” she said while saluting the humanitarian acts and courage of the organ donors and their family members.
To encourage cadaveric donation in the state, the then BJD government announced Suraj Award in November 2019 for the organ donors in the memory of Suraj Behera of Bhanjanagar in Ganjam district, whose parents promoted voluntary organ donation following his death in a road accident. Their bold decision helped save the lives of six people.
In recognition of the selfless and courageous contribution of the deceased and their families, the last rites of the donors are also performed with state honour.