On 21^st September 2019, MOHAN Foundation conducted an awareness programme on organ donation at the invitation of Mr. Saravana Babu (HR) for staff of BGR Energy Systems. A blood donation camp by Lion’s Club has also been organized at the company’s site in Ennore. Ms Ishwarya delivered a talk on the subject of organ donation and transplantation and around 15 BGR staff attended.

A video tribute to organ donors started off the session. Ishwarya began her talk with the importance of blood and eye donation. She then spoke on the following topics in detail:

• Organ failure and causes
• Circulatory and brain death
• Difference between brain death and coma
• Types of donors
• Organ and tissue donation while living and after death
• How are the donated tissues used
• Age criteria to donate organs
• The time period for organ retrieval
• Importance of family consent in organ donation process
• The organ donation process in hospital and Green Corridor
• Transplant waitlist, organ allocation and TRANSTAN
• Transplantation of Human Organs Act
• Offences and penalties related to malpractices
• Statistics related to accidents, organ donation rates
• Myths and misconceptions around organ donation
• Contraindications to being an organ donor
• Voluntary body donation
• Celebrities who have pledged

She narrated a few donor stories and also played a video where Shreya, a hand transplant recipient shared her experience. A video where a donor family explains how they made the difficult decision was also played for the audience.

The audience was very patient and listened to the entire talk carefully and asked questions throughout the session. A few questions that were asked:

• How much do transplant surgeries cost?
• How are donor bones used?
• Is the organ charged separately during transplantation?

The audience commented that it was a very informative session that had clarity and gave them an option of learning a lot of new things. Around 4 people signed up as organ donors. MOHAN Foundation is thankful to BGR Energy Systems for the opportunity.