Ace Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir on Thursday pledged to donate his organs as he launched a website, where people can sign-up to make a similar commitment to save countless lives.

'Gift A Life' is a unique initiative of the Apollo Institute of Transplants to encourage people to pledge their organs and save countless lives in the process. This can be done by simply signing up on the web site - wwwgiftalife.org.

After registering with the web site, Gambhir said, "I am happy to be a part of it and will encourage other cricketers to join it. Thousands die every year for want of organs and I feel through initiatives like Gift a Life we can do society good by bridging the gap.

"I would like to urge everyone to make this decision to donate their organs."

Anupam Sibal, Group Medical Director and Senior Paediatric Gastroenterologist, Apollo Hospitals, said, "We desperately need to create awareness about organ donation.

While in Spain organ donation takes place in 33 per million population in India the rate is 0.1 per million population.

"It is now more than 15 years since the law declaring brain death came into effect in India, yet there is limited awareness that one individual can gift lives to atleast eight patients with organ failure. As a clinician it really pains to lose a child for want of an organ."

The mission of 'Gift A Life' is to ensure that no person in India dies for want of an organ. This public awareness initiative aims to bring together information and awareness on the issue of organ donation and at the same time connect doctors, citizens, hospitals.