PM DECLARES ORGAN RETRIEVAL
BANKING ORGANISATION OF AIIMS A NATIONAL FACILITY
AUGUST 3 TO
BE OBSERVED AS NATIONAL HEART TRANSPLANTATION DAY
August 3 would be observed as
National Heart Transplantation Day every year henceforth. This
was declared by the Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee
at the Heart Transplantation Day celebrations at his residence,
here today. Shri Vajpayee also accorded his approval to declare
the Organ Retrieval Banking Organization of AIIMS as a National
Facility. It was on this day, nine years ago that the first successful
heart transplantation was carried out in India.
Union Health and Family
Welfare Minister, Smt. Sushma Swaraj and the Director, All India
Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr. S. Venugopal were among the
distinguished guests present on the occasion. Four persons who
had undergone successful heart transplants were also specially
invited at the celebrations.
The following is the text
of the Prime Minister’s speech:-
"I welcome you all
to Panchavati – the Heart Transplant Recipients, the Heart Transplant
Patients and all the good-hearted ladies and gentlemen who have
gathered here this evening.
In particular, my hearty
welcome to Dr. Venugopal, the pioneer of heart transplants surgery
in India and the moving spirit behind this movement. I recall
the excitement, on this day nine years ago, when Dr. Venugopal
and his colleagues carried out the first successful heart transplantation
in our country. I also recall how, on the occasion of the first
anniversary of that momentous event, I had raised the issue in
the Lok Sabha and proposed that the House felicitate the team
of doctors at AIIMS for their feat. Then, cutting across party
lines, honourable members had spoken in high praise of this distinguished
achievement.
I was the Leader of the
Opposition then. Now I am the Prime Minister. In a sense, I too
have been transplanted in this place. What has effected this transplantation
is not medical science, but the democratic process in our country.
And those who carry it out are not doctors, but ordinary people
of India. But the people can do something which even specialised
doctors cannot. They can also reverse this "transplantation"
if they so want and vote leaders out of their offices.
These light-hearted remarks
apart, friends, I am truly pleased to participate in this function.
I wholeheartedly accept Dr. Venugopal’s request that August 3
be observed every year as the National Heart Transplantation Day.
I also give my approval to his other request and declare the Organ
Retrieval Banking Organisation (ORBO) as a National Facility.
I am sure that these twin
decisions today would go a long way to promote the transplantation
campaign in India and save a large number of patients who could
benefit from it.
Heart is a very interesting
and, in some ways, a unique organ. Only highly specialised doctors
may know the structure and functioning of the heart from a medical
point of view. But it is one organ whose non-medical functioning
– and here I mean the heart’s association with human feelings
and emotions – is experienced even by a lay person. The quality
of the heart is also used to categorise human beings – such as
a kind-hearted person, cold-hearted person, cruel-hearted person
and a person with a loving heart.
Come to think of it, it
seems to me that knowing the working of the emotional side of
the heart is far more difficult than the anatomical side of the
heart. Poets, writers and other creative persons have tried it
through their art, but have perhaps succeeded only partially.
I have always wondered
if it is possible to transplant good thoughts, good feelings and
good character into a person. And I have known no other method
than education to achieve this purpose – education understood
in the broadest sense of the term, as a combination of knowledge
as well as values. I am told that modern scientists are calling
it Emotional Intelligence or Ethical Intelligence. I think society
would benefit immensely by gaining a holistic understanding of
man’s intelligence and emotions.
Please accept my heartfelt
appreciation for the good work you in AIIMS and other collaborating
institutions have been doing. It shows that you are doctors who
not only have a good medical knowledge of the heart, but that
you also have a good heart – a heart that feels and cares for
the patients.
I congratulate Sushmaji
for supporting your initiative.
Thank you".
