On August 24th 2019, an Organ Donation Awareness Symposium was organised by the Rotary Nilgiris West in collaboration with the JSS College of Pharmacy and MOHAN Foundation in the auditorium of the college in Ooty. The event was the first of its kind in the tranquil hill station.
The Inauguration of the event began with a traditional procession of the dignitaries and Rotarians that included: Rtn PP Godwin Daniel, Senior Sergeant-at-arms, Rtn. Dr. V Balasubramaniam, President, RC Nilgiris West, Rtn. Dr Anil Kumar, Assistant Governor, District 3202, Rtn. Mr. Senthilkumar, Regional Coordinator, District 3202, Rtn. Dr. S P Dhanabal – Principal, JSS College of Pharmacy, Rtn. Dr. M Sureshkumar, Advisor – Rotaract, JSS College of Pharmacy, Rtr. Ms. Bhavatharini P A - President, Rotaract JSS College of Pharmacy, Rtn. Stephen Cruz, Secretary, RC Nilgiris West and Ms. Ishwarya Thyagarajan and Ms. Ranjini Shankar of MOHAN Foundation.
Following an Invocation by the students of JSS College, Rtn. Dr. V Balasubramaniam and Rtr. Ms. Bhavatharini P A delivered the welcome address and the ceremonial lamp was lit. Rtn. Dr. S P Dhanabal delivered the keynote address and Ms Ishwarya briefly spoke about the objective of the event and thanked the organisers for their initiative. This was followed by Rtn. Dr. M Sureshkumar and Rtn. Dr Anil Kumar addressing the audience, release of the Bulletin, RC Nilgiris West and address by Rtn. M. Senthil Kumar.
In addition to the Rotary members, members of the Innerwheel Club faculty and students of JSS College, a few students and teachers of the Good Shepherd Finishing School for Girls and Good Shepherd International School were also present in the audience.
Dr. Vivekanandan Shanmugam, Liver Transplant Surgeon from Chennai, the special invitee, spoke about the importance of organ donation, explained brain death, cited a few difficult donation examples, highlighted the Indian scenario and emphasized on the next steps to promote the cause. This was followed by Dr. Shivadharshini, Psychiatrist from CMC Vellore talking about decision making in organ donation and the factors that influence it.
Ms Ishwarya’s presentation began with a video tribute to organ donors and then covered topics ranging from organ failure, brain death, criteria for organ and tissue donation in different circumstances, transplant law, hand transplant and organ allocation. The audience had a number of interesting questions that were answered by Dr. Vivekanandan, Ishwarya and Mr Nishanth C V – Transplant Coordinator of the Coimbatore GH. A few questions that were raised during the session:
A few students also shared their personal experiences of donations and transplantations that happened in their families. Student representatives of the two schools shared their feedback as well. The audience also made a promise to promote the cause in the town.
A signature campaign was organized to showcase the crowd’s solidarity in support of organ donation. Certificates were distributed to the delegates, dignitaries were felicitated and vote of thanks was delivered before the event came to a close with lunch.
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