On August 13, 2020, MOHAN Foundation was invited by Geolife Agritech India Pvt Ltd. (GAIPL) to conduct an online awareness session on organ donation for their employees. of Geolife Agritech India Pvt Ltd. (GAIPL). The session was conducted in 5 different languages - Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Bengali. Its coverage was pan-India including its corporate office in Mumbai and 22 other branch offices.

The session was an initiative of the Geolife Foundation, the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) wing of GAIPL. It was organized by Ms. Kshitija, Senior HR Executive, GAIPL and coordinated by Ms. Jaya Jairam, Project Manager, MOHAN Foundation, Mumbai. Dr. Muneet Kaur Sahi, Programme Manager, MF NCR office, was the resource person for the Hindi session and Dr. Jimmy Gupta, Project Coordinator, MF Mumbai, was the co-host.

Geolife Agritech India Pvt Ltd is a fast-growing group of an ambitious multi-activity business, and that has an excellent track record of its growth in India. This energetic group is led by qualified professionals with a vision to touch the horizon in every field of business interest. The company’s Agri division started on 17th September 1973 with the retailing of Fertilizers, Seeds & Pesticides. Later it served as distributors of Major Indian and Multi-National companies.

Ms. Kshitija introduced Dr. Muneet and invited her to conduct the session titled, “Give a second chance to someone by donating organs.” Dr. Muneet started the session with a message, “organ donation is a gift of life to people waiting to receive a life-saving organ, and it is the biggest contribution to humanity.” She explained why there is an urgent need of donating organs in India. She informed the participants that more than 2 lakh Indians require organ transplants annually and less than 10% are able to receive timely help.

She explained the basic concepts of organ donation and transplantation with the help of a simple PowerPoint presentation. The following topics were explained in detail:

• Organ donation and its need in society
• When and how does organ donation take place
• Organs that can be donated during life and after death
• The Transplant waiting list in India
• Brain death
• Difference between brain death and coma
• Transplant Law
• Eye donation

Dr. Muneet said that the main objective of the session was to make the participants aware of the 5 ‘W’s and one ‘H’ i.e. why, where, what, who, when and how of the organ donation process. She added that many people wanted to donate organs, but they lacked information about the procedure of organ donation. While she spoke about brain death, a short movie was shown to elucidate and enumerate the difference between coma and brain death. Myths around organ donation with their corresponding reality check were also made clear during the session.

The session was very interactive and lively as many participants enthusiastically contributed to the discussion and asked many queries. To name a few: 

• How can one contact MOHAN Foundation, especially from an area where the Foundation does not have an office, and there is a potential brain-dead patient and the family wants to donate organs?
• How does MOHAN Foundation contact the families of a deceased person for eye donation?
• Can a person donate eyes if he had undergone a cataract operation or wears spectacles?
• Who benefits from the money paid by the recipient families?
• Do rich people get priority over the poor and the needy for organs?
• How much time a liver takes to regenerate in the human body after being transplanted?
• Can a person donate his organs while suffering from Down’s syndrome?
• What is the time frame for the organ retrieval process?
• Is the identity of the donor or the recipient revealed to the family?
• Can a person who is bitten by a poisonous snake or insect donate his organs?
• Can a child donate his organ to an adult?

During the session, an employee of GHIPL shared that he had waited for a kidney for his wife for 3 long years and could not get it in his state. He then went to Chennai and registered his wife’s name on the state waiting list until she finally got a deceased kidney. The Foundation helped him with all the necessary information and administrative details. He was very grateful for their help and support, though he could not share that at that time with MOHAN Foundation. He said, “Today’s webinar session is the right time and platform for me to express my gratitude and give thanks to MOHAN Foundation.”

In the end, Mr. Vinod Lahoti, Chairman & Managing Director of Geolife Group gave the vote of thanks. He informed the participants that he along with his family have signed up for organ donation today and motivated the group to follow his example and pledge for organ donation by signing the google pledge form displayed online by the organization.

The session went on for one hour and thirty minutes. Dr. Jimmy took up the queries in Marathi.  Close to 165 participants attended the session.