On February 17, 2024, the MOHAN Foundation Delhi NCR office was invited to conduct an online organ donation awareness session for ROTARACT club members and students of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College (SBSC), New Delhi. Dr Muneet Kaur Sahi, Programme Manager, MOHAN Foundation (MF) Delhi NCR, was the speaker for the session. ROTRACT club members and SBSC students attended the session.

Mr. Prem Kandelwal, a ROTRACT club member of SBSC, contacted the MF Delhi NCR team via the office telephone number. Ms. Sanya Santosh, a Programme Officer for MF Delhi NCR, then coordinated the session.

Dr. Muneet was welcomed by Rtr. Yashita, a member of the ROTARACT Club. She began the session by asking the students' understanding of organ donation and then moved on to explain the concepts of organ donation and transplantation with the help of a PowerPoint presentation and a short film on brain death. The following aspects of organ donation were covered: 

• What is organ donation, and why is it important to donate organs?
• Who can be an organ donor?
• Explanation of 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
• Body donation

To make the session more interactive, Dr. Muneet engaged participants by asking them to name:

• Is the brain-dead person alive or dead?
• In the case of circulatory death, can the deceased person donate his or her organs?
• Organ donation can happen at home.

She also explained organ donation contraindications. Although being HIV-positive is generally considered a contraindication, it is not uncommon for organ donation to occur between an HIV-positive donor and recipient.

Overall, the session was very interactive, with participants enthusiastically contributing to the discussion and asking many queries, including:

• If a family refuses organ donation, are organs retrieved against their will?
• Are there any possibilities of disparities in the allocation of organs?
• Can anyone donate his or her organs even if he or she is alive?

At the close of the session, Dr Muneet shared with the students the MOHAN Foundation’s Angels of Change-Ambassador training course. The objective of the training is to sensitise and train student volunteers as agents of change for organ donation, make them proficient enough to conduct public awareness sessions independently, and encourage them to conduct awareness sessions with their peers or other target audiences.

At the end of the session, the ROTARACT Club President, Rtr. Sahil Sharma, expressed his gratitude to the MF team for conducting the session.

Close to 60 participants attended the session.