In order to celebrate Angdaan Mahotsav, impart knowledge on the subject of ‘Organ Donation’ to their 1^st Year B.Sc (Nursing) students and inspire them for the humanitarian and altruistic act of pledging their organs and tissues, the management and Principal of BCYRC Bhausaheb Mulak Nursing College, Nagpur organized a session on ‘Organ Donation’ on August 28, 2023. For this, they invited a team comprising Ms. Veena Wathore, prominent and senior social worker in the field of organ donation, Dr. Tapan Bodele, Consultant Intensivist, Meditrina Institute of Medical Sciences, Nagpur and Devang Chhaya, Ambassador and Life Member, MOHAN Foundation to conduct the session. Mr. Bulu Behara of MOHAN Foundation assisted in co-ordination of the program. Sixty students along with their teaching faculty and Principal Dr. Sarika Rokade attended the session.

As a pre-session task, the student participants were asked to explore Mohan Foundation website and other websites and come prepared with the information gathered on the subject of Organ Donation. The session began with students sharing their gleanings from the internet. The faculty team appreciated the commendable efforts of the students. Next Devang Chhaya, gave a lecture-presentation titled ‘Live and then Give – The Greatest Gift of Life’ under which he covered the What-Why-How of Organ Donation. His talk, inter-alia, included the following main points:

• What is Organ Donation? Difference between Body donation and Organ donation.
• Objectives of the Transplantation  of Human Organs  & Tissues Act, 1994
• Organs & Tissues that can be donated by live donor and Donation after Circulatory Death (DCD) and Donation after brain death (DBD)
• Extent of lives saved by a single deceased organ donor.
• Imperativeness of donating organs and tissues – the extent of gap in requirement and availability of organ for transplantation
• Current scenario of Organ Donation in India vis-à-vis other countries
• How to pledge your organs and obtain a Donor’s card and certificate
• Common Myths and superstitions surrounding Organ Donation and facts thereof
• Government of India’s recent thrust on Organ Donation and Transplant

This was followed by an illuminating presentation on Brain Stem Death by Dr. Tapan Bodele who combined his clinical and academic expertise on the subject and explained in detail the functions of Brain Stem, the concept of Brain Stem Death (BSD), difference between coma and BSD, Tests performed for confirmation of BSD and various challenges arising in handling cases of serious head injuries which could lead to BSD.

Ms.Veena Wathore informed the participants of the yeomen’s role being played by MOHAN Foundation as a pioneer and premier NGO in the field of Organ Donation, the various courses and trainings being conducted by it as well as the functioning of ZTCC including organ allocation, Logistics, Green corridor etc. She also explained in great detail the process of Cornea donation and skin donation after circulatory death.

At the end, the faculty team fielded questions from the participants to clarify doubts and misconceptions. Some of the topics on which participants had question were:

• Which diseases prevented deceased organ donation?
• Main causes of Brain Stem Death
• Effect on immunity of organ recipient and live donor.
• Can an organ donor donate transplanted organs after his death?

The session concluded with all participants pledging to donate their organs after death as well as propagating the noble cause among their nears and dears.