ORGAN-O-CULTURAL 2011

Actor Siva Kumar launches MOHAN Foundation’s Organ donation movement in Coimbatore

MOHAN Foundation (Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network) has been working with the deceased organ donation programme since 1997. Through its efforts in Chennai and Hyderabad over the past decade, there has been an increase in the number of families saying “yes” to organ donation. In 2009, MOHAN Foundation started the “Transplant Coordinators’ Training Programme,” which is being supported by the Navajbai Ratan Tata Trust.

MOHAN Foundation’s transplant coordinators have been placed in the Government General Hospital, Chennai. Their presence in counseling families of brain dead patients has made a tremendous difference to the deceased organ donation programme in the hospital. From February 2010 to January 2011, 184 life-saving organs and tissues were donated.

MOHAN Foundation now plans to take the organ donation movement to other places in India. Coimbatore is the first big step in this direction. In an attempt to raise organ donation awareness within the city, it organized ‘Organ-o-Cultural 2011, a cultural competition for college students (street theatre, mime, poster design and collage) on the theme of organ donation. The event was held at PSG College, Peelamedu, and saw the participation of more than 10 colleges. Dr. Sunil Shroff, Managing Trustee of MOHAN Foundation said, “The people of Coimbatore as a whole are committed to helping society, which is why we felt that we needed to involve the youth, hospitals and the general public in this programme. Also it is time to move the deceased organ donation programme from being Chennai-centric to a more broad-based one involving the whole of Tamil Nadu.”

Pratap Gokuldas, Past Governor Rotary Club, has been instrumental in bringing MOHAN Foundation to Coimbatore. He said that he has been involved with motivating people about eye donation for many years now and his brother, Arun Gokuldas, is a role model as far as blood donation is concerned, having donated blood more than 150 times. They both felt that the time had come to look at the concept of donation more holistically, and to their mind multi organ donation and MOHAN foundation were synonymous. This was brought home very touchingly by Ms. R. Veena, Transplant Coordinator, as she narrated the stories of some of the deceased organ donors in Chennai and Hyderabad.

Dr. Sunil Shroff and Arun Gokuldas felicitated the Guests of Honour - Dr. J.G. Shanmuganathan Chairman, Ganga Hospital, Dr. R.V. Ramani, Managing Trustee, Sankara Eye Hospital, Dr. J. S. Bhuvaneswaran, Medical Director, PSG Hospital, Dr. V. Kumaran, Dean, KMCH , Dr. K. S. Ramalingam, Chief Nephrologist, Coimbatore Kidney Centre, Dr. P. Sivaprakasam, RMO, Govt. General Hospital, Dr.(Col)T.B. Ramakrishnan Medical Superintendent , Kuppusamy Naidu Hospital.

Dr. K.S. Ramalingam, Chief Nephrologist, Coimbatore Kidney Centre, said that with MOHAN Foundation now in Coimbatore, the hospitals would have a partner with whom they could take the deceased organ donation programme forward.

 A special organ donation pin was launched by Arun Gokuldas and the first one was given to the Chief Guest, actor R. Siva Kumar, who had signed a Donor Card at an earlier function by MOHAN Foundation. In his address, Mr. Siva Kumar spoke inspiringly about the spirit of sacrifice and how necessary it was for each and everyone to carry a Donor Card. He said that organ donation was a heavenly deed and expressed his support for this noble cause.