Amongst the lush greenery and the buzz of helicopters and planes, MOHAN Foundation conducted an Organ Donation awareness talk in the Tambaram Airforce Station at the NCC camp on May 02, 2023. 280 cadets from different schools and colleges belonging to TN1 Air Force Battalion of Tamil Nadu participated in the session. 

Dr. Hemal Kanvinde (Quality Assurance Officer) and Ms. Arshiya Fathima. H (Helpline counsellor) were the resource persons for the sessions. Two sessions were conducted simultaneously.

One session was for the 80 college students conducted by Dr Hemal. She spoke of the need for organs, what and when donation can happen. She explained brain death - causes and certification process. She spoke of tissue and voluntary body donation.  A role-play of the procedure was enacted by the students to understand how allocation is done and the importance of a transparent process.  After the session a short Q&A was conducted. The queries were about donation of bone marrow, plasma, bones and voluntary body donation. Donation of organs from children was also discussed.  The students took part in a quiz based on the lecturer. They participated wholeheartedly. 

Ms. Arshiya Fathima began her session for 200 school students with a Q&A activity. There were interesting answers from students. This was followed with a talk on the concepts of Organ Donation and Transplantation which included who, what, when and how donation can happen. She also explained brain death. In between the session Ms. Arshiya conducted a quiz and also explained the Myths & Scams on Organ Donation, and the effective usage of Organ Donation Helpline 1800 103 7100. It was an interactive session and also conducted a drawing session for school students in post cards on Organ Donation.  

Some queries asked by the school students:

1. Why is it illegal to sell organs? Government can set up registration or even set up a tax.

2. If a person dies in hospital can organ to retrieved immediately and transplant

3. Why cannot the brain be transplanted?

MOHAN Foundation wholeheartedly thanks Colonel Gurpreet Sing, Adithan Suresh and Mr. Ganesan Commanding officer and NCC Team for organizing this awareness session.