On March 7, 2025, MOHAN Foundation, in collaboration with AIIMS Rishikesh and SOTTO Uttarakhand, organized a one-day Continuing Medical Education (CME) on deceased organ donation and retrieval at the CPD Hall, AIIMS Rishikesh.
The workshop brought together a distinguished panel of experts, including Dr. Deepak Gupta, Professor of Neurosurgery, AIIMS New Delhi; Ms. Pallavi Kumar, Executive Director, MOHAN Foundation; Dr. Atul Kumar Singh, Professor of Anesthesiology, Doon Medical College & Nodal Officer, SOTTO Uttarakhand; and Mr. Sanchit Arora, Project Leader, MOHAN Foundation, stationed at AIIMS Rishikesh.
Key stakeholders from AIIMS Rishikesh participated in the event, including surgeons, residents, transplant coordinators, nursing staff, and eye bank personnel. Additionally, Dr. Emil Richards, Medical Superintendent, Max Dehradun, and Dr. Puneet Arora, Nephrologist, Max Dehradun, were also in attendance.
Dr. Rohit Gupta, Nodal Officer of the Division of Organ Transplant at AIIMS Rishikesh, delivered the welcome address. He expressed gratitude to the dignitaries and felicitated the speakers for their contributions.
The workshop began with Professor Samiran Nundy, President of AIIMS Rishikesh, sharing his insights and experiences to strengthen the institute’s organ donation program. Professor Meenu Singh, Executive Director of AIIMS Rishikesh, encouraged participants and highlighted the institute’s milestone achievement of its first successful deceased organ retrieval. She reaffirmed the team’s commitment to furthering the program.
Ms. Pallavi Kumar conducted the first session, titled “A to Z of Organ Donation,” providing a comprehensive overview of the organ donation process. She covered identifying potential donors, conducting eligibility assessments, managing donor maintenance, and navigating legal and ethical frameworks. She emphasized the importance of meticulous coordination among medical teams, transparent communication with donor families, and adherence to standardized protocols to ensure ethical and efficient transplantation.
Dr. Deepak Gupta presented the second session, focusing on brain death certification and donor management. He outlined the standard operating procedures for identifying potential deceased donors, maintaining donors, confirming brain death, including paediatric cases, and conducting apnoea tests. He also discussed challenges in organ donation and shared insights into how AIIMS Delhi established and managed its deceased donation program.
Dr. Atul Kumar Singh led the third session, explaining the role of SOTTO Uttarakhand in organ donation. He detailed the requirements for transplant coordinators to submit regular data and described the organ allocation procedures followed by SOTTO in the event of a donation.
The fourth session, conducted by Mr. Sanchit Arora, focused on public awareness initiatives and whole-body donation. He shared recent case studies and highlighted the importance of sustained community engagement to increase donation rates.
The workshop encouraged active participation, with attendees raising several important questions. Discussions covered topics such as maintaining donor stability within a short timeframe, ensuring accuracy in brain death testing in cases of severe metabolic disturbances or drug intoxication, ethical considerations when withdrawing ventilator support, managing an increase in organ donations in Uttarakhand, training physicians to declare brain death and maintain brain-dead patients, addressing concerns from families who struggle to accept brain death, the concept of "decoupling" in organ donation, the role of SOTTO Uttarakhand in organ allocation, and ongoing public awareness efforts by SOTTO.
In his closing remarks, Dr. Rohit Gupta thanked the speakers and participants for their active engagement. He stressed the importance of continued collaboration, ongoing training, and sustained public awareness to further enhance the organ donation program at AIIMS Rishikesh.
The workshop was attended by approximately 60 participants.
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