On 21st February, 2022, a Seminar on Deceased Organ Donation  was conducted at Apollo College of Nursing, Vanagaram, Chennai. Dr. Nesa Sathya Satch, Principal and 150 participants comprising of 3rd year B.Sc nursing students and faculty attended the seminar.  The experts for this seminar were Dr. Hemal Kanvinde, Ms. Preetha Baskar, Project Executive, Awareness and Helpline of MOHAN Foundation and Mrs. R. Jayanalini Transplant Coordinator of Apollo Hospital, Vanagaram.

The session commenced with a welcome speech given by the staff of Apollo College of Nursing, Vanagaram.

Session 1:

Session 1 was on the Concepts of Organ Donation conducted by Ms. Preetha Baskar, MOHAN Foundation. She explained Deceased Organ Donation, its basic concepts, brain death, myths related to Organ Donation, statistics, additional information on whole body donation, eye donation,  skin donation. She also spoke on the importance of pledging organs and the value of a donor card. She concluded with stories of a donor and a recipient.

Session 2:

A film explaining Brain Stem Death, its causes and certification was screened. The film emphasized the deceased organ donation especially after brain stem death, the clinical tests and apnoea tests conducted by the doctors to confirm brain death. The members of the certification committee and the process that takes after confirming brain death was also shown in the film.

Session 3:

An organ recipient film was screened to show the importance of organ donation and how it had changed the lives of the people who suffered from end stage organ failures. This was followed by a quiz competition on organ donation. Chocolates were the prizes to the students who answered the questions. Most of the answers were given by the faculty.

Session 4:

This session was about Counselling of Organ Failure patients by Dr. Hemal Kanvinde. She enlightened the students about the importance of counseling for organ failure patients or recipients, what needs to be done and not done and the FAQs.

Session 5:

This session was about the 10 steps to a successful donation in a hospital.  It was conducted by Mrs. R. Jayanalini, Transplant Coordinator, Apollo Hospitals, Vanagaram. Placards with stakeholder names were randomly distributed among the students. The students were asked to come on the stage according to the steps and stakeholders involved in successful organ donation. The process that happens after the brain stem death was clearly explained by involving students.

Session 6:

The last session was about Career as a Transplant Coordinator and courses available through MOHAN Foundation. Dr. Hemal explained the one month and one year courses offered to candidates wishing to take the career as Transplant Coordinator.

Finally, the seminar programme concluded with a Vote of Thanks delivered by a student of Apollo College of Nursing, Vanagaram. MOHAN Foundation thanks the management of Apollo College of Nursing, Principal Dr.  Nesa Sathya Satchi. and faculty Mrs Sasikala for organizing the seminar.