On August 28, 2018, MOHAN Foundation conducted an awareness talk on organ donation at Rufaida College of Nursing, Jamia Hamdard University, New-Delhi. It was organised by Ms. Anindita Sabath (Transplant Coordinator, MOHAN Foundation Delhi-NCR) and coordinated by Ms. Seema Rani (Asst. Professor, Rufaida College of Nursing, Jamia Hamdard University). Ms. Anindita was also the resource person for the session.

 

Rufaida College of Nursing was established in 1983 as per the vision of Janab Hakeem Abdul Hameed Saheb, the founder of Jamia Hamdard, who wanted to encourage girls from Muslim minority community and weaker sections of the society to take up the noble profession of Nursing.

 

This was the second time that the Foundation conducted a talk on organ donation at the college, earlier it was conducted in September 2014 on the occasion of Teachers Day. The session was attended by students pursuing B.Sc. and M.Sc. Nursing and faculty members including the Principal, Prof. Urmila D. Bhardwaj.

 

The session began with an inspiring video on organ donation. Post screening of the video, Ms. Anindita asked the students for their inputs. Students shared that it was a very moving and an emotional video. She then pitched in by introducing the topic and explaining the seriousness of the cause. She spoke about the huge gap between the demand and supply of organs in India and explained the reasons as to why other European countries have much higher ODR (Organ Donation Rate) as compared to India. The two consent systems i.e., opt-in and opt-out followed all over the world was also discussed.

 

The condition of brain stem death was explained with the help of a video and common causes of brain death and difference between coma and brain-death were also elaborated. The Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994 was briefly discussed covering its essential objectives. The myths and misconceptions related to organ donation that generally exist were discussed providing their corresponding reality checks. Ms. Anindita also explained the process of corneal donation and how all of us as individuals should at least propagate and promote it.

 

The session ended with another motivational movie on organ donation. Close to 120 participants attended the session and 10 forms (Form-7) were picked up.