MOHAN Foundation Press Release - Rally For Life bikethon to create Awareness on Organ Donation in Tamil Nadu

Rally For Life bikethon to create Awareness on Organ Donation in Tamil Nadu

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The recent spurt in organ donation activity (almost 109 cadaver organs in last 9 month) from various districts of Tamil Nadu has inspired the volunteers of MOHAN Foundation to undertake a nine day marathon motorbike rally to create awareness on organ donation in the state. Nine young men will be riding motorcycles and will be covering a distance of 2000 kms. The nine places that will be covered include - Vellore, Salem, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Madurai, Trichy, Dindigul, Tanjarvur and Pondicherry. During their visits to these town they would also be honoring organ donor families.

The theme of nine has been chosen to remind the public that one organ deceased donor can save nine lives by donating - 2 eyes, 2 lungs, 2 kidneys, heart, liver and pancreas

This nine day is to be accompanied by a ambulance to ensure safety of our volunteers. These are some Some interesting facts about Organ donation and Tamil Nadu -

Tamil Nadu has the highest eye donation rate in India - 8000 per year
The first successful kidney transplant in India was done in Tamil Nadu in 1971
The first successful multi-organ donation and Transplant was done in Tamil Nadu - 1995
The highest number heart transplants have been done in Tamil Nadu
In the last nine months Tamil Nadu has had 109 organs for 36 deceased donors - thanks to these noble family members saying YES to ORGAN DONATION - all time high in the field of organ donation in India

MOHAN Foundation has facilitated 450 of the 1400 cadaver organs transplants in India since the year 2000 and first started its operations in TN in 1997. Visit www.mohanfoundation.org for more information

Locations to be Covered and Dates of the Rally in Various Towns -

09.09.2009 - Flag off in Chennai Start Time - 09:09:09 @ 9hrs, 9 mins and Nine secs from Loyala College Chennai

Chennai (09.09.09) -	Vellore (09.09.09)
Vellore (10.09.09)	Salem(10.09.09)
Salem(11.09.09)	Coimbatore (11.09.09)
Coimbatore (12.09.09)	Dindigul (12.09.09)
Dindigul (13.09.09)	Tirunelveli (13.09.09)
Tirunelveli (14.09.09)	Madurai (14.09.09)
Madurai (15.09.09)	Trichy (15.09.09)
Trichy (16.09.09)	Tanjarvur (16.09.09)
Kumbakonam (17.09.09)	Pondicherry (17.09.09)
Pondicherry (18.09.09)	Chennai (18.09.09)

About MOHAN Foundation

MOHAN (Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network) is a national Non-Government Organization that promotes the deceased Organ Donation Programme in India and has helped in creating an organ sharing network between transplanting hospitals in the country. Since its inception in1997, it has distributed organ donor cards in various Indian languages, held patient support group meetings, trained transplant coordinators, counseled organ donor families and published a quarterly newsletter called the Indian Transplant Newsletter.