DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2014.v02i06.015

Pages: 2016-2021

Though all of us agree that organ donation is the need of the hour, myths and misconceptions regarding it abounds accompanied with very poor knowledge and attitude towards this noble act. Therefore a study was conducted to find out the perception of the people regarding organ donation in an urban area of Kolkata. An observational crosssectional type of study was done among 110 adults (aged >= 18 yrs.) sampled by simple random sampling method. 96.5% of people completed the survey.84.5% were aware of the term organ donation. None of them knew that apart from Eye and Kidney other organs can also be donated. 70.9% didn’t have any preference towards organ donation to any particular religion. Although 35.5% would donate an organ if required only 11.8% were ready to sign a card regarding donation after death.40.5% have said that they would take money in exchange of organ donation. Our study has found fear (63.4%) as the main reason for not donating organs followed by possible objection from family (36.6%).40% and 43.6% of people have satisfactory knowledge and attitude respectively. It was observed by multivariate logistic regression that age, caste, education were significant covariates of satisfactory knowledge and attitude regarding organ donation. Satisfactory knowledge is an important predictor of willingness to organ donation (OR 13.5 95%CI 5.3-34.9). Mass awareness campaigns to promote organ donation activities and the fact that organ donation can bring smile to the faces of many should be percolated and imparted at both individual and community level.