Are the undergradute medical students well-informed of organ transplantation?

Sir,

Awareness of organ transplant is very low in the general population. Even though the media, the local government, NGOs, hospitals, doctors and paramedical staff are consistent in their effort to bring much more widespread and effective willingness and sense of responsibility in common people regarding organ donation, they have not been able to reach the expected level. Even millions of students around the globe who join medical courses are also not much aware of organ donation. A survey of awareness of Brazilian transplantation law revealed that only 51% medical students heard about it, 47.3% were unaware and only 1.7% of them knew the law in detail (1). Even though medical students of Italy had a high awareness regarding organ donation and transplantation, it did not improve further in first three year and thus additional educational program was needed (2 Another study conducted to test the students' attitude towards organ donation, revealed that 74% of nursing students signed the donor card where as only 43% of medical students were interested towards organ donation (3). This statistic data emphasizes the disparity between the medical and allied health and paramedical students' attitude towards the lifesaving concept. Although the curriculum for medical undergraduate students includes the basic sciences, it fails to emphasize more elaborately the need and importance of organ donation and transplant. Even the textbooks lack the necessary information regarding the list of organs and tissues that can be transplanted, the maximum viability time of these organs, the common methods and precautions taken to transport the organ and the local legal frameworks regarding the procedure. This minimum knowledge, if provided in the curriculum and textbooks of basic science, would definitely reduce the diminutive trend and encourage organ transplant not only by medical students but also by people coming in contact with them. Thus, more information regarding the above matter should be included for the undergraduate medical students in their pre-clinical curriculum.