Ms. Pallavi Kumar invited for a Panel Discussion on Organ Donation organized by CII Indian Women Network, New Delhi

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  Ms. Pallavi Kumar addressing the audience

  

  Mr. Boman Irani speaking about organ donation

  

  Ms. Bhavna Vedhara moderating the panel discussion

  

  Creative

  On August 26, 2021, Ms. Pallavi Kumar, Executive Director, MOHAN Foundation-Delhi NCR was invited as a panelist in a panel discussion titled ‘Organ Donation-Live Beyond. Live Forever ‘organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Indian Women Network (IWN), New Delhi. Mr. Boman Irani (Actor), Dr. Arvinder Soin (Chairman & Chief Surgeon, Medanta Liver Transplant Institute), Dr. Sandeep Attawar (Program Director & Chair KIMS Heart & Lung Transplant Institute) were the other panelists. Some members of donor families and recipients were also invited to share their personal experiences. Ms Bhavna Vedhara (Chairwoman, CII-IWN Delhi) was the moderator.

   

  Confederation of Indian Industry launched the Indian Women Network (IWN) in 2013 with the vision of being the largest Network for Career Women. The thought behind the formation of IWN was that career women require a structured network to meet like-minded women to discuss and overcome challenges that they might be facing at the workplace. IWN works towards enabling women to become better professionals and achievers in their respective fields through initiatives and activities to facilitate a supportive network, a platform to learn and exchange ideas and an avenue to network and grow.

   

  At the beginning of the panel discussion, Ms. Bhavna introduced and welcomed all the panelists. Then a lively discussion began that covered various aspects of organ donation and transplantation such as when can a person donate, who can donate, brain stem death versus circulatory death, organ/tissue donation, what are the factors that influences a person's decision to donate, what is the process of pledging, living donation versus deceased donation, Transplant Law and many myths that abound organ donation with their corresponding reality check. The transplant recipients described their experience of pre and post-transplant life. They encouraged the audience to pledge for organ donation to save many precious lives awaiting for life saving transplants.

   

  The session was very lively and interactive as many participants asked questions which were answered one by one by the panelists. To name a few:

  • What is the survival rate post liver transplant?
  • What medical conditions exclude a person from donating organs?
  • If I sign DNR (do not resuscitate), can I still donate my organs?
  • For a patient suffering from liver cirrhosis, is it possible to remove the cirrhotic part of the liver considering that the liver regenerates itself?
  • What happens if the death happens outside the hospital?
  • If someone is Hepatitis B positive, can he be an organ donor?
  • Can the organs be donated of a person who passed away due to covid?
  • My friend’s father has HIV infection but only discovered later in life that it was secondary to some surgery done. Can his organs be donated for this noble cause?
  • What is the process for organ donation? How does one go about it? And what would the family have to go through later post death of the donor?
  • Are people with hyper or hypo-thyroidism eligible to be organ donors?
  • How many days we can keep a patient on ECMO?
  • What is conditional donation?
  • What is directive donation?
  • I have had a lung transplant recently. Can I donate my organs?

   

  Some feedback from the audience:

  • A very insightful session
  • Thank you all for this wonderful session
  • Bless you all for this lovely talk
  • Very informative and inspiring session. Thank you
  • Thank you so much for joining in and being part of organ donation initiative by CII IWN
  • Thank you Dr. Soin, Dr. Attawar and Ms. Pallavi for answering each question in detail
  • Very informative. Thanks for arranging such session
  • Thanks for sharing your experiences. Precious information

   

  Close to 120 participants attended the panel discussion through ZOOM platform. The session was also live on Facebook and YouTube.

   

  Click here to watch the video.

  
  
  Source-Ms. Preeti Goswami