On January 31, 2024, the MOHAN Foundation Delhi NCR office was invited to conduct an organ donation awareness session at the ICICI Academy for Skills, Karol Bagh. Ms. Simran Anand, Programme Officer, MF Delhi NCR, and Ms. Sanya Santosh, Programme Officer, MF Delhi NCR, were the speakers for the session.

There were 2 sessions: the first session for the morning batch was attended by 40 participants, and the afternoon batch was attended by 36 participants. The session began by asking participants what they knew about organ donation. The MF team then explained the current status of organ donation in India. They also explained the basic concepts of organ donation and transplantation with the help of a PowerPoint presentation. The following topics were explained in detail:

• What is organ donation and why is it important to donate organs?

• Who can be an organ donor?

• Explanation about live and deceased donors

• Organs that can be donated during life and after death

• Brain death

• Eye donation and steps required to preserve corneas after death.

• Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994

• Role of the MOHAN Foundation

• What an individual can do to contribute to this noble cause

• Myths and facts about organ donation

• Differences between coma and brain death

A participant shared her personal experience of a suicidal case where a young woman committed suicide and underwent a post-mortem to ascertain the cause of death. The participant wanted to understand the process of a post-mortem in medicolegal cases.

Another participant shared that she wished to donate one of her kidneys to her aunt, who was suffering from end-stage renal disease, but her parents did not consent.

Students became interested in this good cause when they learned that Ms. Isha, their teacher and Centre Director, had pledged her organs upon her death.

Over all, the session was very interactive, where participants enthusiastically contributed to the discussion and asked many queries, to name a few:

• If an individual dies at home in the morning and family gets to know by evening, will the organs and tissues of the deceased person be donated?

• If a person dies of a heart attack, will the deceased person’s family be able to donate his or her organs?

• How is skin retrieved and stored?

Close to 76 participants attended the session