Dr. Sunil Shroff was presented the prestigious K. Venkatanarayana TANKER Foundation Awareness Award by Dr. J. Radhakrishnan, IAS, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Government of Tamil Nadu at TANKER Foundation’s 22nd Annual Charity & Awards Nite on 25th January 2015. The award was given in recognition of Dr. Shroff’s work as founder of MOHAN Foundation and for being a pioneer in India in creating “Awareness on Organ donation” across our nation since 1997. The award carries a cheque for Rs. one lakh along with a citation and gold medallion.
TANKER Foundation, which does exemplary work in the field of kidney education, research and helping the underprivileged who have kidney ailments, also gives awards to recognize and encourage people engaged in research in Nephrology and service to the community.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Guest Dr. Radhakrishnan said that the disastrous impact of non-communicable diseases needed to be recognized and worked on. The way forward was for the government, NGOs and private hospitals to join together as a community in tackling challenges. He added that NGOs were catalysts in creating awareness and that CSR contributions could help them.
Dr. Shroff accepting the award said that when he started MOHAN Foundation people felt that he had embarked on ‘Mission Impossible.’ But through perseverance and persistence, it had been proved that deceased organ donation was possible. He said, “This is an award for the team at MOHAN Foundation. The organ donation awareness initiatives have resulted in a paradigm shift in Tamil Nadu and Kerala with families coming forward on their own to donate the organs of their loved ones.” He added that the work of champions like Dr. J. Amalorpavanathan, Convenor, Cadaver Transplant Programme, Government of Tamil Nadu in a difficult programme like deceased organ donation was invaluable. He thanked Dr. Georgi Abraham, Founder, and Ms. Latha Kumaraswami, Managing Trustee, TANKER Foundation for the honour.
Dr. K. V. Johny, one of the leading lights in Nephrology, delivered the 7th Krishnan Ang TANKER Foundation Endowment Lecture – “Pioneering Contributions in Nephrology.” Along with Dr. M. Mohan Rao, he was instrumental in carrying out the first successful live renal transplant in India, which was performed in February 1971 in CMC, Vellore. Dr. Johny said that, unfortunately, even now it was a ‘deathcall’ for a patient with chronic kidney disease (CKD) since the cost of treatment was out of reach for most people. He said that screening for kidney disease was the need of the hour.
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