One-week Sensitisation Program at Sir C V Raman Government Hospital, Bengaluru

• 

  Mrs. Ranjini Shankar addressing the staff of Sir C V Raman Hospital

  

  Sensitisation session in progress

  

  Staff of Sir C V Raman Hospital with their donor cards

  

  Group picture after the session

  A one-week sensitisation program on organ donation was conducted by MOHAN Foundation for the staff of Sir C V Raman Government Hospital in Bengaluru between 19^th and 29^th July 2021. Ms. Ranjini Shankar MS coordinated this program with Dr. Radhakrishna, the Medical Superintendent and Dr. Shashikala, the RMO of the hospital along with Jeevasarthakathe

  Mrs Ranjini Shankar MS (Grief Counsellor cum Project Manager) and Mr. Marulappa LN (Transplant coordinator) of MOHAN Foundation were the trainers for the program. The staff of the hospital attended the training in batches.

  Mrs. Ranjini initiated the session by introducing MOHAN Foundation, its mission, vision and then she explained the concepts of organ and tissue donation; the types of death i.e., cardiac death and brain death. She also discussed in detail, brain death declaration through Apnoea test and few other clinical aspects like corneal reflex test, oculocephalic reflex test, and oculovestibular reflex test  and procedure of deceased organ donation and living donation.

  Mr. Marulappa explained in brief about eye donation and the complete process of transplantation of corneas. The procedure of skin and bone donation were also covered. Barriers to organ donation i.e., myths and facts related to organ donation and how they impact the minds of the public were highlighted. Mrs. Ranjini explained the importance of donor card and how one can become an organ donor and elaborated on the volunteer training activities conducted by MOHAN Foundation for those interested in supporting the noble cause of organ donation.

  The participants were invited to join MOHAN Foundation’s internship and volunteer program. Details of the organ donation helpline 18001037100 were also shared. Donor cards were distributed among the doctors, staff nurse, lab technicians and Group Ds who wished to pledge. About 177 participants attended the session and among them 157 participants signed up as organ donors.

  Towards the end of the session, queries from the audience were taken up and answered. Some of the queries included:

  1. Does my age/fitness level disqualify me from being a donor?

  2. Are any provisional benefits provided by the government for being a conditional donor?

  3. Can COVID recovered individuals be considered for organ donation?

  4. Organ allocation process followed by Jeevasarthakathe

  5. Tissue banking procedure

  6. Time duration for allocating organs

  7. Can priority be given to highly critical end-stage organ failure patients?

  8. Is any financial support provided for the donor families?

  9. How is the consent taken from the family if the decision makers are young children?

  10. Declaration of brain death by panel members

  11. Brain stem death certification process

  MOHAN Foundation conveys its gratitude to the Sir C V Raman Government Hospital Bengaluru for choosing to support this life-saving cause.

  
  
  Source-Ms. Ranjini Shankar