Organs from the deceased persons are altruistically donated by their family to unrelated recipients. (Photo: Getty/Thinkstock)Over 1,500 patients from 63 countries across the world chose to undergo organ transplantation in India, including three patients each from the United States and the United Kingdom. While most of them received an organ from their living relatives, 11 foreign nationals also received organs from deceased Indian donors, according to an annual report of the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO).Organs from the deceased persons are altruistically donated by their family to unrelated recipients. While there is a long queue of patients in need of transplants, such donations remain low in India, less than one per million population.Organs from deceased Indian nationals are allocated to foreign nationals only if a match is not found in time among Indian patients awaiting one. There were a total of 3,526 organ transplants using organs from a deceased donor in India in 2025, according to the data.Also Read | New real-time portal for organ transplants launched: National waiting lists, Aadhaar-linked pledgesOrgans from deceased donors that were given to foreign nationals included three hearts, five lungs, two small bowels, and one pancreas. Of the 11 foreign nationals who received these organs, three were from Iraq, having received one heart, one lung, and one small bowel. There was one recipient each from Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Kyrgyzstan, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh.When it comes to living donor transplants — where the organ is donated by a living, close relative of the recipient — there were 1,560 among foreign nationals that took place in the country in 2025. The data shows that the highest number of such transplants were done in patients from Uzbekistan (373), Myanmar (146), and Kyrgyzstan (115). Myanmar was at the centre of a “cash for kidney” scam in 2023 where middle-men were found to forge documents to show that a poor donor, who received money from the recipient, was actually related to them.Anonna Dutt is a Principal Correspondent who writes primarily on health at the Indian Express. She reports on myriad topics ranging from the growing burden of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension to the problems with pervasive infectious conditions. She reported on the government’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic and closely followed the vaccination programme. Her stories have resulted in the city government investing in high-end tests for the poor and acknowledging errors in their official reports. Dutt also takes a keen interest in the country’s space programme and has written on key missions like Chandrayaan 2 and 3, Aditya L1, and Gaganyaan. She was among the first batch of eleven media fellows with RBM Partnership to End Malaria. She was also selected to participate in the short-term programme on early childhood reporting at Columbia University’s Dart Centre. Dutt has a Bachelor’s Degree from the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune and a PG Diploma from the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. She started her reporting career with the Hindustan Times. When not at work, she tries to appease the Duolingo owl with her French skills and sometimes takes to the dance floor. ... Read More Tags:Organ transplant