India, Aug. 15 -- Make presumed consent the standard for organ donations

In the last decade, India has made bold strides in health care. Yet when it comes to organ transplantation, unfortunately, a silent crisis continues to claim thousands of lives. Organ Donation Day, which fell earlier this week, was yet another reminder for us to take action to urgently address the need for organ donation on a larger scale. Nearly half-a-million Indians die every year waiting for a life-saving transplant due to the unavailability of organs.

We have the medical expertise, and what we need now is a collective will at a national level to bridge the gap between organ supply and demand. The gap between patients' needs and organ availability and transplan...