Knowledge, attitude and behaviour of the general population towards organ donation: An Indian perspective.

BACKGROUND: The rate of organ donation in India is low and research on organ donation among the general population is limited. We assessed the knowledge, attitude and willingness to donate organs among the general population.

METHODS: We carried out a cross-sectional descriptive study among 193 randomly selected relatives of patients (not of those seeking organ donation) attending the outpatient department at a tertiary care centre. We used a structured questionnaire to collect data through face-to-face interviews.

RESULTS: We found that 52.8% of the participants had adequate knowledge and 67% had a positive attitude towards organ donation. While 181 (93.8%) participants were aware of and 147 (76.2%) supported organ donation, only 120 (62.2%) were willing to donate organs after death. Further, there were significant associations between age, gender, education, economic status and background of the participants with their intention to donate organs.

CONCLUSION: Our study advocates for public education programmes to increase awareness among the general population about the legislation related to organ donation.