Cremation of organ donors in Odisha to be done with full state honours: Patnaik

Full state honours mean all the arrangements will be done by the state government, which includes wrapping the body in tricolour and giving a 21-gun salute

Bhubaneshwar: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday announced that the last rites of those who donate their organs would be done with full state honours.

(Representative Photo)

Full state honours mean all the arrangements will be done by the state government, which includes wrapping the body in tricolour and giving a 21-gun salute. The government will also give Rs.5 lakh from the chief minister’s fund to the relatives of the organ donors.

Organ donation is a noble gesture, Patnaik said. The relatives of brain-dead people who make the courageous decision to donate their organs play an important role in saving many human lives, he added.

The chief minister said that the state government’s initiative aims at honouring the courage and sacrifice of the donors to save the lives of other people.

“Besides, it would create awareness in the society about the importance of organ donation and motivate more and more people to come forward in this regard,” he added.

To facilitate the process of organ donation, the Odisha government in 2019 had set up the ‘State Organ & Tissues Transplant Organisation’ and instituted the Suraj Award for organ donors in 2020.

The award has been instituted in the name of Suraj Nehera of the Ganjam district, whose heart, kidney and eyes gave lives to six others. Nehera had died in a road accident in Surat.

The chief minister also honours the next of kin of organ donors on World Organ Donation Day on August 13 every year.