Amit Gupta Foundation was formed in 2009, and is a registered trust under 80G.
This Foundation was created in memory of Amit Gupta who passed away in 2008 due to various complications as a result of a renal failure and transplant thereafter . In the 15 long years that he was under treatment , his wife Anasuya had first hand experience of the despair , trauma and inadequate knowledge of both patients and families suffering from end stage organ failure. She also witnessed the helplessness of the hospitals and the medical staff.
In view of this , she along with her two children Ashmita and Abhiroop decided to raise awareness for the need to pledge organs after one has passed on. The Organ Transplant Act of 1996 , does not allow for unrelated transplants to take place. In this context it is imperative that we are aware of the crying need of the day to save lives and the only way this is possible is to pledge our organs and ensure that our family members are made aware of our wishes and they act accordingly.
The primary job of the Foundation is to address this. It spends a lot of time and resources in making presentations to corporates, NGO's, educational institutions, government bodies, to make people aware of this reality and how each one of us can save many lives if we are able to donate our organs after death.
This education helps people to sign up for organ donation once they understand the reality facing India right now. The acute shortage of organs are a major concern for the health sector.
The Foundation also engages with patients and families with end stage organ failure in counseling, directing and advising on diet, medication, costs involved. Most of the people in need of this counseling are from less privileged or uneducated backgrounds. They need to be directed in the right path. More often than not the confidence they get out of this learning helps them to tackle problems and derive at solutions. This work is primarily done in hospitals.
In India at this moment the statistics say that there are 0.18 per million donations that happen and the requirement is at least 3 per million. The rate of cadaver transplants are one of the lowest in the world even though we have a population of 1.2 billion people and brain death occurrences are more than enough. Thus the importance and the criticality of this awareness amongst all Indians is a must. In India there are 5 lakh people die waiting for an organ. A case in point 1 lakh people die of liver diseases and 1000 only manage to get a liver, 2.20 lakh people await a kidney transplant and only 15000 get one.
The Foundation also works with Aastha , an organization which educates and helps under privileged children with cerebral palsy.
It also collaborates with Bal Sahyog where one member of the corporate which supports it devotes one hour every month to spend with orphaned children in teaching them some skill set or moral values. The Foundation also conducts health camps for the members of staff of the corporate. It also organizes donation of clothes, food , blankets drive in order to help the poor and supports an organization called GOONJ, which works closely with communities affected by natural calamities or poverty. There are cricket tournaments which are organized for children from less privileged background because the belief is that physical activity is a pre requisite to good health.