Rajasthan wins National Award for organ donation pledge campaign, tops India
Synopsis
Rajasthan has beaten every other Indian state in the Organ Donation Pledge Campaign, taking home the national excellence award at the 16th Indian Organ Donation Day. In a country where transplant waiting lists run into hundreds of thousands, the state's mass-campaign model — built on inter-departmental coordination and grassroots outreach — offers a blueprint others may now be pressed to follow.
Key Takeaways
Rajasthan received the State Award for Excellence in Organ Donation Awareness at the 16th Indian Organ Donation Day in New Delhi .
The state secured the top position nationwide in the Organ Donation Pledge Campaign .
The award was presented by Union Minister of State Anupriya Patel at the Dr.
Ambedkar International Centre .
Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar credited sustained awareness campaigns and Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma's leadership.
Principal Secretary Gayatri Rathore highlighted inter-departmental coordination between SOTO , medical departments, and voluntary organisations as key to the achievement.
Rajasthan has been conferred the State Award for Excellence in Organ Donation Awareness at the 16th Indian Organ Donation Day celebrations, recognising the state's first-place finish nationwide in the Organ Donation Pledge Campaign. The award was presented on Monday at the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi, by Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare and Chemicals & Fertilizers, Anupriya Patel. The honour was conferred by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
What the Award Recognises
The national honour acknowledges Rajasthan's top ranking in the Organ Donation Pledge Campaign, driven by widespread public awareness drives and active citizen outreach. The state edged out all others nationwide in encouraging residents to formally pledge organ donation, a metric NOTTO tracks as a key indicator of grassroots health engagement.
The Rajasthan delegation that received the award included Dr. Rashmi Gupta, Director, Department of Medical Education; Dr. Chitra Singh, Joint Director, State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTO); Dr. Dharmesh, IEC Consultant; and Dr. Mamta, Additional Director.
What the Government Said
Rajasthan Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar called the recognition a proud moment for the entire state, attributing the achievement to sustained awareness campaigns and citizen-centric healthcare initiatives under Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma.
'Organ donation is one of the greatest humanitarian acts. The state government is committed to ensuring that every citizen understands its importance and joins this noble mission so that more patients awaiting transplants can receive a new lease on life,' Khimsar said.
Principal Secretary, Medical, Health and Medical Education Department, Gayatri Rathore, credited the result to strong inter-departmental coordination, noting that the Medical Education Department, Medical and Health Department, SOTO, doctors, healthcare professionals, and voluntary organisations had collectively converted awareness into a mass public campaign.
'Our objective is to further expand awareness about organ donation across Rajasthan and strengthen a transparent and efficient organ transplantation system so that the gift of life reaches the maximum number of patients in need,' Rathore said.
Why This Matters
India continues to face a severe organ shortage, with hundreds of thousands of patients on transplant waiting lists at any given time. State-level pledge campaigns are considered a critical upstream intervention — increasing the pool of potential donors before clinical need arises. Rajasthan's national lead in this metric signals a replicable model for other states.
This is the 16th time Indian Organ Donation Day has been observed nationally, and the award category for state excellence reflects NOTTO's push to incentivise competitive performance among states on awareness outcomes.
What Comes Next
Officials indicated the state intends to build on this recognition by deepening outreach in rural districts and reinforcing the institutional framework of SOTO. The focus, according to Rathore, will be on making the transplantation system more transparent and accessible to patients across Rajasthan.
Point of View
But the harder metric — actual deceased donor rates and transplants performed — remains absent from the official narrative. Pledge numbers are a leading indicator, not an outcome. The real test of this institutional framework will be whether it converts citizen pledges into functioning consent at the clinical moment, which is where most organ donation systems globally break down. NOTTO's decision to award state excellence on awareness alone risks creating an incentive structure that optimises for optics over outcomes. Rajasthan would do well to publish its conversion rate from pledge to actual donation — that number would make the award genuinely historic.
NationPress
3 Aug 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the State Award for Excellence in Organ Donation Awareness?
It is a national honour conferred by NOTTO under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, recognising states that demonstrate outstanding performance in promoting organ donation awareness and citizen pledge campaigns. Rajasthan won the award at the 16th Indian Organ Donation Day on Monday in New Delhi.
Why did Rajasthan win the organ donation national award?
Rajasthan secured the top position nationwide in the Organ Donation Pledge Campaign by running sustained public awareness drives and effective citizen outreach programmes. The state's inter-departmental coordination between SOTO, medical departments, and voluntary organisations was cited as a key factor.
Where and when was the award presented?
The award was presented on Monday at the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi, during the 16th Indian Organ Donation Day celebrations organised by NOTTO. Union Minister of State Anupriya Patel presented the honour.
Who received the award on behalf of Rajasthan?
The Rajasthan delegation included Dr. Rashmi Gupta (Director, Medical Education), Dr. Chitra Singh (Joint Director, SOTO), Dr. Dharmesh (IEC Consultant), and Dr. Mamta (Additional Director), who collectively accepted the award on the state's behalf.
What is NOTTO and what role does it play in organ donation?
NOTTO, the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation, functions under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and coordinates organ and tissue donation and transplantation activities across India. It organises Indian Organ Donation Day annually to drive national awareness and recognises high-performing states.
