DAY 9:

The training session started with the topic “WHOLE BODY DONATION” by Dr. Arun Kumar, Associate Professor, Department of Anatomy, SRM Medical College. He explained the concept of whole body donation:

1. Legal process – A form with the details of the person to be filled and signed with two witnesses.
2. Forms – The filled in form has to submitted to the anatomy department of any medical college
3. Death – When the person is dead, the body has to transferred to the medical college within 6 hours, which will be used for research purpose

Next was the most awaited session – Panel Discussion.

Panelists:

* Dr.Amalorpavanathan, State Convenor, Cadaver Transplant Program, TamilNadu

Organ Sharing & Allocation:

Any hospital who maintains a brain dead patient and the family members have given consent for organ donation, the convenor will be informed. He will allocate the organs according to the waiting list. The hospital which maintains the patient will be offered one Kidney & any other organ (liver, heart).

*Ms.Seema Agarwal, IPS, Police Welfare Officer

Police Inquest for post mortem:

Any police station nearest to the hospital who maintains the donor can prepare the inquest and pass the information to the police station were the accident took place. This is applicable if the accident spot is 100 km radius away from the hospital.

Road Traffic accident is the major cause for brain death, in such cases the post mortem can be done at the operation theatre itself, thus we can lessen the grief time of the family.

*Dr.Anand Khakhar, Transplant Surgeon, Apollo

The cost a liver transplant will go up to 18 lakhs and above, in this the surgeons fee is less where the maximum amount is spent on the medicines, liquids and other materials used for retrieval, packing, transportation and transplantation of the organ. There is no health insurance that support organ transplantation and post treatment thus the patient has to bare the cost completely.

Liver failure due to alcoholic habit, the person has to go thorough medical and psychiatric process to help him not to get back the habit after transplantation.

*Ms.Pushpa Narayan, Health Correspondent, Times of India

Organ donation figures in our state are a good source for the people to come forward to support the cause. Meanwhile the cost of transplant and post treatment for the recipient is another stress for the family. If the health insurance schemes start to support organ transplantation the premium will increase, in such cases the poor cannot afford.

*Ms. Ramya Kannan, Senior Health Correspondent, The Hindu

Organ Donation - any powerful stories that can trigger the public will be the key for media to carry. Facts and figures are important to add value to a new story.

The last session was on Heart transplantation & Homografts by Dr.Jacob James Raj, he explained about types of heart transplant i.e. Heterotopic and Orthotopic . He also explained about homografts transplantation i.e. the cold and warm ischemic. Most of the heart valves were been received from brain dead patients. These valves are been stored in bank and used when need. The heart valves are stored in cryopreservation and the vials are labeled clearly.