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One Week Transplant Coordinators Training Programme held in Chennai, Tamil Nadu |
MOHAN Foundation successfully completed a one-week Transplant Coordinators’ Training Programme from 20th to 24th January 2020 held at MOHAN Foundation, Chennai. This was the 67th training programme and the training was supported by Tata Trusts.
There were a total of 24 delegates from different parts of the country - Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and New Delhi. The training also had international representation (China) – faculty and observer.
Sessions on various topics such as concepts of organ donation, the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, Overview of Deceased Donation in India, History of Transplantation, Current Status of Deceased Donation in the World and Lessons from other Successful Transplant Programmes Abroad, Case Studies, Public Awareness and Ethical Issues in Organ Donation & Transplantation were taken by the MOHAN Foundation team comprising Dr. Sumana Navin, Course Director, Ms. Sujatha Suriyamoorthi, Manager-Information Systems and Ms. Ann Alex, Programme Associate. There were a few group activities conducted on communication and deceased organ donation process. Educative videos and awareness films were also screened during the training.
There was an invited session on ‘Overview of deceased organ donation and transplantation in China' by Ms. Jiang Wenshi, Intelligence Sharing for Life Science Research Institute. During her session, Ms. Wenshi spoke about the organ donation & procurement model in China and various training and awareness initiatives undertaken by the Government to improve the organ donation rate.
Dr. J. Sreevidya, Associate Professor, Dept. Of Anatomy, Govt. Stanley Medical College spoke about the importance and process of voluntary whole body donation. Dr. K. Sridhar, Director, Institute of Neuroscience, MGM Healthcare Pvt Ltd explained the concept of brain stem death, essential findings in brain stem dead patients and the protocol in brain stem death certification. Mr. F. Sagayam, Executive Officer – Transplantation, MIOT Hospitals addressed the delegates on ‘Grief counselling and approaching families for organ donation’. He also moderated a role play where the delegates were presented a difficult case scenario and asked to initiate the family conversation. One of the key elements in the deceased donation programme is maintaining a potential brain dead donor and a session on that was handled by Dr. G.P. Arulraj, Sr. Consultant, Dept. of Anaesthesiology, Govt. Stanley Medical College & Hospital. Dr. Jacob Jamesraj, Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Madras Medical Mission in an interesting session spoke about Heart Diseases, Heart Transplantation and Heart Valves (Homografts) - Donation, Banking & Transplant. Dr. Paul Ramesh, Cardiothoracic & Transplant Surgeon, Apollo Hospitals spoke about the lung diseases that require a transplant, donor selection criteria, challenges in retrieval and transporting the organ.
In his session, Dr. Suresh Sankar, Nephrologist, VS Hospital & Frontier Lifeline Hospital explained the kidney diseases – acute and chronic, treatment options for acute and chronic kidney disease (CKD), kidney disease burden and the importance of awareness and early detection. He also introduced the participants to the immunological background to transplantation, immunosuppression and graft rejection. Dr. N. Sezhian, Consultant Urologist & Kidney Transplantation, Apollo Hospitals focused on the surgical aspects of kidney retrieval and transplantation. He also spoke about organ perfusion, benching and demonstrated packing the organs. .
Mr. J. Nethaji, DGM-Program & Promotions Multi Organ Transplantation, MGM Healthcare listed out the role of a Transplant Coordinator in deceased donation programme. Mr. S. Senthil Kumar, Sr. Grief Counsellor & Transplant Coordinator, Government Stanley Medical College & Hospital highlighted all the key points in coordinating Medico-legal Cases during deceased organ donation.
Dr. Arulprakash. S, Clinical Lead & Sr. Consultant, Gastroenterology & Hepatology, MGM Healthcare Pvt Ltd explained to the participants different kinds of liver disease and their causes, signs and symptoms, treatment and prevention. Dr. Gomathy Narasimhan, Sr. Consultant, HPB Surgery & Liver Transplantation, Dr. Rela Institute & Medical Centre explained the graft (liver) retrieval from living and deceased donor, transplant surgical procedures and post-transplant follow-up. Dr. Somesh Balakrishnan, Consultant-Plastic, Hand & Microsurgery, Right Hospitals spoke about Skin donation, banking and transplantation and stressed the need for skin donors. Mr. K. Shankarganesh, Sr. Transplant Coordinator, Heart, Lung & Renal Transplantation, Gleaneagles Global Health City, Mr. M. Sivakumar, Incharge-Multi Organ Transplant Coordination Unit, Dr. Rela Institute & Medical Centre and Ms. L. Sendhamarai Selvi, Renal Transplant Coordinator, Madras Medical Mission spoke on Recipient Coordinators’ roles and responsibilities in Heart & Lung, Liver and Kidney transplant programme respectively. The training also had an interesting Quiz on organ donation and transplantation conducted by well-known quiz master Dr. Navin Jayakumar (Neuro-ophthalmologist, Darshan Eye Clinic).
The training programme concluded with a session on ‘Role and responsibilities of TRANSTAN (Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu) by Dr. R. Kanthimathy, Member Secretary, TRANSTAN. She briefed the participants about deceased donation programme in Tamil Nadu, state organ distribution system and state government guidelines/support in facilitating the programme. At the valedictory function, the participants received their completion certificates from Dr. R. Kanthimathy, TRANSTAN. |
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