On April 12, 2022, Organ Donation Awareness session was held for students from the Social Work Department at Dharmamurthi Rao Bahadur Calavala Cunnan Chetty’s (DRBCC) Hindu College, Chennai. Almost 27 students of 2nd year MSW participated in the session. Dr Hemal Kanvinde, Quality Assurance Officer and Ms Preetha Baskar, Project Executive from MOHAN Foundation conducted the sessions.
Ms Preetha Baskar began the session with some questions about blood donation. Students actively answered the questions. This was followed by a presentation on Organ Donation, explaining the concepts, types of donors, which organs can be donated, who can donate organs and how a person can get an organ. She also added the importance of pledging organs and dispelled the common myths on Organ Donation.
A testimonial video of a heart transplant recipient was played. This positive impact story helped to motivate the students to support the cause.
Dr Hemal Kanvinde commenced the next session with an interesting story of a Kidney transplant recipient. The story was narrated in a way which showed the difficulties faced by a Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Patient and how that person came out of that dark cave through a life-saving organ. She also gave some insights about the courses offered by MOHAN Foundation.
A Question and Answer session was held. Students questioned some of their doubts. They are
1. Is it possible for an organ recipient to donate any of his/her organs?
2. What is the average life expectancy of an organ transplant recipient?
3. What shall I do if one of my family members is a kidney failure patient?
All these questions were clarified by Dr. Hemal Kanvinde.
The session ended with a quiz on organ donation. Students actively engaged in the quiz. Nearly 15 of them piced a donor card and pladged to donate organs. MOHAN Foundation thanks Mr J Rajan, Assistant Professor & Head, Social work Department and Dr M Rex Sahayaraj, Assistant Professor for their coordination and support.