MOHAN Foundation was invited by L & T Integrated Engineering Services,Saidapet to give a presentation on Organ Donation. Ms.Veena, Transplant Coordinator of MOHAN Foundation explained the concepts of organ donation – who can donate organs, when can a person donate, the legal process for organ donation, concept of brain death and certification, simple steps to be followed for eye donation and organ donation statistics of Tamil Nadu. The participants interacted well and clarified their doubts.

One of them raised the interesting question of whether each organ had a specific life span and whether the same organ could be transplanted twice? The answer to that was that there is no fixed life span for an organ; with ageing, of course, there will be some deterioration in function depending on various factors.

Can the same organ be transplanted twice? Any organ that has been transplanted, has undergone certain stresses during the process of retrieval and transplantation. In addition, the patient would be on immunosuppression. To explant such an organ and use it again is not routinely done as function would be compromised. However, if the person who received an organ died shortly thereafter, of unrelated causes, technically that organ could be transplanted into another person.

In some cases, a domino transplant is done. For example, in a patient whose lungs need to be replaced, it is technically easier to replace the heart and the lungs at the same time. As the patient's own heart is usually healthy, it can be transplanted into someone else needing a heart transplant.

By pledging for a donor card all the 15 participants expressed their support for the noble cause of organ donation and also picked up additional donor cards for their family members. The Head of L & T Integrated Engineering Services, Saidapet requested MOHAN Foundation to do another presentation for their Porur branch. He said he would like to spread this message to all his employees.