For this event held on 8^th June 2018, Hon Minister for Medical Education and Water Resources, Shri Girish Mahajan was invited as the Chief Guest. The other panellists included representatives of NGOs and CXOs and CSR heads of leading corporates.

Shri Girish Mahajan initiated the discussion by talking about how Spain is leading the world with its Opt Out model. He went on to share that the government is very keen to see higher rates of organ donation in Maharashtra and is looking at implementation of projects to augment the program. He said, “Nagpur alone potentially sees 1000 brain deaths every year, but very few of them end up as donors”. He then appealed to the various corporate representatives to adopt organ donation awareness as their corporate social responsibility.

When asked “How comfortable are companies in spending on changing the mindset”, Mrs. Jaya Jairam mentioned that not too many companies have taken up organ donation as a CSR project, probably because it is a difficult concept and also probably because corporates may like to associate with tangible causes. She went on to say that in India, there are pockets of excellence and then there are states which are untouched by the organ donation program. Moreover, 160 government colleges in India, only about handful of them do transplants, thereby making it unaffordable and unreachable for the common man.

Sanofi’s Ms. Sangeeta Topiwala shared as to how they are supporting workshops for ICU personnels. SBI Foundation’s MD and CEO, Shri Mahendra Kumar Rekhi went on to share as to why they thought of supporting organ donation and how they have partnered with MOHAN Foundation to further the awareness and make organ donation and transplants accessible even to those states which are untouched presently. He went on to share how SBI Foundation supported MOHAN Foundation’s life member, Mr.B S Chilana on a roadtrip from Mumbai to London, covering 23000 Kms in support of organ donation.