With the aim to meet up the rising demand for organ transplants, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in association with government and private hospitals decided to begin the National Organ Transplant Programme as a pilot project in the national capital.

At the first Indian Organ Donation Day on Thursday, Mr. RK Srivastava, director general health services stated, "We are setting up a system in place that will connect registered hospitals and their ICUs for organ donations. This will also connect patients on the organ waiting list."

The reports said that the demand for organ transplants is increasing day-by-day.

At present, 150,000 people are in the row for organ transplants, but, the supply of organs is just 4,500.

NK Mohanty, additional director, general health, and the head of the urology department at Safdarjung Hospital said, "There is a huge gap between the demand and supply of organs. This is primarily because we do not have a system in place."

India is the fifth major organ transplant market with over 4,200 kidney transplantations carried out on a yearly basis.

The hospitals in the country also draw a hefty number of overseas patients for organ transplant.

India's medical tourism segment is likely to go through a twelve monthly growth rate of 30%, making it a $2 billion industry within the next two years (2012).

Every year, the country requires around 50,000 livers, 175,000 kidneys and 50,000 hearts for transplantation. Around 85% of transplants are being conducted in private hospitals and 95% kidneys and livers are from living donors.

Comprising administrative and private hospitals in this scheme, Srivastava said that the department has already joined hands with Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow and Fortis Hospitals, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh in this project.