On June 28, 2017, MOHAN Foundation was invited to conduct awareness sessions on organ donation for the employees of Aegis Ltd. The sessions were organized under the CSR initiative of Aegis and it was coordinated by Surabhi Gogoi, Lead - Human Resource. The resource persons for the sessions were Dr. Muneet Kaur Sahi, Programme Manager and Ms. Mareena Thomas, Programme Officer, MOHAN Foundation, Delhi-NCR.

Ms. Sreeja Nair from HR introduced the team of MOHAN Foundation to the participants. Dr. Muneet took the pre-lunch session and Mareena took the post-lunch session.

The sessions were kept as interactive as possible. On being asked if anyone had heard of organ donation or if they knew someone with end stage organ failure, participants from both the sessions shared their personal experiences. While there was someone who had lost his mother to kidney failure there was a lady who shared her experience of knowing a 10-year-old who had pledged to be an organ donor, succumbed to road accident and his organs were donated by his parents. It was a learning experience for the team when another participant shared that someone known to her family received ovary (egg) donation who then conceived after the egg donation and went on to deliver a healthy baby.

Dr. Muneet explained that organs can be donated in the condition of ‘brain stem death’ a state in which there is total and irreversible loss of all brain function. It is under these circumstances that families are asked to understand that their loved one has died. It is also under the same scenario that organ donation is presented as an option to give life to others. She also clarified that brain death is not a coma or persistent vegetative state and it is determined in the hospital by team of 4 doctors not associated with the transplantation team.

Ms. Mareena explained the different ways one could pledge to be an organ donor. She also emphasized on the fact that pledging by signing a donor card or filling up an organ donor pledge form, in both the situations it is important to bring the family in consensus with one’s wishes, as their decision will be considered final. The participants were also told about National Organ Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO), an apex centre for all India activities of coordination and networking for procurement and distribution of organs and tissues donation and transplantation in the country.

Participants were encouraged to discuss eye donation with their family as the same can be done at home after cardiac death and the process takes only 20 minutes. Relevant information on body donation and its process, the organizations coordinating body donation and the importance of body donation was also shared with the group.

Close to 80 participants attended the sessions and exactly the same number of donor cards were picked up.