Karnataka sets record with 198 organ donors in 2025

BENGALURU: Jeevasarthakathe, the State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTTO), achieved a record of 198 donations from organ donors in 2025, making it the highest number of donations in a year in the state’s record.With this, Karnataka stands third in the country behind Tamil Nadu (267) and Telangana (205) for state-wise donations. Karnataka’s previous record was in 2023 when 178 donors donated their organs. In 2024, there were 162 donors. Out of the total 198 donors this year, 150 were male, whereas 48 were female.With 306 retrievals, kidneys were the most donated organs, followed by 288 corneas (both organs are found in pairs in the human body), 167 livers, and 76 heart valves. Hearts, lungs, skin, bone, and small bowel were the other organs and tissues that were retrieved from donors.“We can attribute record donations to increased awareness about organ donations. More people are willingly donating organs now. However, we see that 80–85% of donations are still happening in Bengaluru and, to some extent, in Mysuru. For the next year, our aim is to increase donations at the district level by creating more awareness there and encouraging donations through medical college hospitals and Non-Transplant Human Organ Retrieval Centres (NTHORCs),” Dr Ravishankar Shetty K, state coordinator, Jeevasarthakathe (SOTTO), told TOI.Around 5,500 patients in Karnataka still await organ transplants, with around 4,700 of them waiting for kidneys and around 650 for livers.Earlier this year, SOTTO announced a collaboration with the police department under which a DySP-rank police officer would be nominated as the nodal officer to identify accident-prone areas and coordinate with district hospital teams to share information about head injury cases in which organ donation could be possible. SOTTO also plans to collaborate with the higher education department to create more awareness and get more students to pledge for organ donations.Organ donors from 2016 to 2025Organs and tissues retrieved in 2025 Source: SOTTO