The Vijaya Medical and Educational Trust celebrated its 50^th Anniversary in the year 2022 with a slew of programs and CMEs.  Dr. Bharati Reddy, CEO of the Trust initiated a program on Organ Donation called the Gift of Life. The Inauguration of this program was held on Nov 25, 2022 at the VRIMET Auditorium. Nearly 100 doctors and hospital administration staff attended the inauguration. 

Under the Gift of Life Program they plan to educate all their staff and their patients in OPD about organ donation.  As a beginning MOHAN Foundation was invited  to create awareness among the staff through 4 sessions that covered more than 300 staff members. 

The Inauguration of the program was at 11am with Dr N. Gopalakrishnan, Director, Institute of Nephrology, Madras Medical College  and GH, Dr Ilankumaran Kailamoorthy, CEO Dr Rela Hospital and Reseach Institute, Chennai. and Dr Sunil Shroff, Managing TRustee MOHAN Foundation as chief guests.  

Dr Bharati Reddy welcomed the gathering and spoke of the legacy of Shri Nagi Reddy to create a hospital that was of service to the patients.  The Vijaya Hospital was the first Multispecialty   tertiary care centre in Chennai. It began as a 60 bed hospital and is now a 700 bed hospital with more than 1800 staff. There are plans to start and Organ Transplant Centre in the future. 

The program included talks by experts in the field from the public, private and NGO sector. Dr Gopalakrishnan spoke of the Barriers and Success of Organs Donation and Transplantation in a public sector hospital. He listed the initial challenges and the need of clear rules and protocols to make this program a success. Her recalled the early days when there were very few dialysis centers and many patients lost their lives due to the lack of facilities. Now the same hospital has a separate 3 floor unit  for dialysis and other dialysis centers in 72 Government  Hospitals with a dedicated nephrologist. 

He said that the integration of the CM health scheme and the PMJAY scheme made it possible for all patients under BPL to receive a grant of Rs. 5 lakh per annum towards health expenditure. This made transplant as a possible treatment option. Other private hospitals have joined this program and get compensated by the TN government for the transplant surgery costs. 

The initiatives of sending medicines to the door step through the Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvan had helped many patients to receive the CAPD bags and saved them time and money to come to Chennai.  The TN Medical Services Corporation sources medicines for a year and thus they are at a more reasonable costs to the government and that is passed over to the patients.  Non-compliance to medicines is no longer a reason for graft failure due to these initiatives. 

Dr Illankumaran spoke of the role of private sector hospitals for the growth of Organ Donation and Transplants.  He said that their are twice the number of private hospital than public hospitals and only 18% of patients get their treatment at the public hospitals. The Government of India spends less than 1.25% of the GDP on Health and most patients have out of pocket expense on health. 

In transplants the need for private public collaboration is of great need and gave an example of the Training of Government Surgeons at for liver transplant by Dr Rela Hospital team. Now Government Stanley Medical College and Hospital have their own successful liver transplant program.

At the end of the program, Dr Sunil Shroff, Managing Trustee of MOHAN Foundation spoke of the Challenges and Achievements of the NGO in promoting deceased organ donation. He recollected the start of deceased donation with rare certification of brain death and the establishment of a network of 4 Chennai based hospitals for organ sharing. He also informed the audience that Indians actively donate eyes, whole body regularly.  Systems are in-place to get the deceased’s or family wishes honoured. Many NGOs have worked hard to make this popular in our country.

He explained the role of MOHAN Foundation to create awareness and later how the foundation started a Training program for Grief Counselors and Transplant Coordinators and placing of grief counselors at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. He explained after 25 years of public awareness, the time has come to create a Green Corridors in Hospitals so that protocols for every brain dead donation go about without any hurdle.

Dr Shroff also spoke of the different ways that Organ Donation can be made popular via lighting up monuments. He gave an example of Angdaan Smarak of Jaipur, which is an installation to honour all organ donors in Rajasthan. At the end he wished the Vijaya Hospitals well and extended his help to train the staff in decease organ donation.

The event ended with a vote of thanks from Dr. Preetham Reddy. MOHAN Foundation thanks Dr V. Ganesan, Director, VMET for the organisation of this program.