On November 14, 2019, MOHAN Foundation conducted an awareness session on organ donation for the students and faculty of IIT Jodhpur. Mr. Manpreet Singh, Assistant Project Officer, Office of Students, IIT Jodhpur organized & coordinated the talk. Dr. Muneet Kaur Sahi, Programme Manager MOHAN Foundation was the resource person.

The talk was a part of a very unique initiative where a private company, Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance joined hands with MOHAN Foundation to create awareness on organ donation and to encourage pledging for this important, life-saving cause. The insurance brand launched a month-long drive called #NoMoreWaiting on November 5, 2019 in Mumbai to inform, educate and mobilize support for the cause with MOHAN Foundation (knowledge partner) and other stakeholders. 

IIT Jodhpur was established in 2008, to foster technology education and research in India. As on date, the institute has 1444 students along with 111 faculty members and 61 staff members. The session was organized as part of “Social Connect” course that aims at helping students in breaking the isolation, building connect with their peers, with the society and with the environment and practicing responsible connect through sustainability practices. Around 330 first year engineering undergraduate students attended the session with their faculty members.

Dr. Rohan, Assistant Professor, Chemistry Department in his welcome address spoke about MOHAN Foundation and its mission and vision. Then he introduced Dr. Muneet Kaur Sahi and invited her to begin the talk.

Dr. Muneet explained the basic concepts of organ donation, the need for it in today’s time when many people are suffering from end-stage organ failure, laws and legal processes involved in organ donation, why India lags behind European countries that have higher organ donation rate and reasons for the huge gap between demand and supply of organs by means of a simple PowerPoint presentation.

When explaining the concept of brain death, a short video was shown on the said subject. After watching the video, the students had better clarity about brain death and that it is different from coma. Various myths around organ donation with their corresponding reality check were also discussed. 

At the end, a motivational video was shown that depicted how a selfless act of donating the organs of one’s loved one gave solace and satisfaction in the feeling that their loved one is still “living on” in another person who needed this “gift of life.” The movie evoked a positive response and created an immediate connect with the students.