On July 18, 2025, Ms. Pallavi Kumar, Executive Director, MOHAN Foundation, NCR, conducted a standalone session on Grief Counselling and Approaching Families for Organ Donation for the transplant and critical care teams at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi. She was accompanied by Ms. Sanya Santosh, Programme Officer, MOHAN Foundation NCR.
The session was part of Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals’ initiative to relaunch and strengthen their deceased organ donation programme, focusing on equipping transplant and critical care teams with the necessary skills to effectively counsel families of potential donors. Dr (Col) Kaushik Nath Ghosal, Deputy Medical Superintendent, and Mr. Mohd Wasim Mughal, Senior Transplant Coordinator, Transplant Secretariat, had visited the MOHAN Foundation NCR office to discuss the objectives and content of the session, ensuring it addressed practical challenges faced by the hospital teams in facilitating organ donation conversations.
The boardroom session, facilitated by Lt. Gen. (Dr.) Bipin Puri, Director Medical Services, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, focused on “A No is Not Always a No” and practical aspects of grief counselling in the context of organ donation. Using a PowerPoint presentation, Ms. Pallavi covered:
• The importance of advocacy and awareness around organ donation
• Decoupling: timing the request for organ donation
• Breaking the news of death
• Stages of grief
• How and why to approach families for organ donation
During the session, a real case involving a 37-year-old male declared brain dead on July 17, 2025, was discussed to highlight challenges in the consent process, particularly when spousal consent could not be obtained, leading to the donation not proceeding.
At the end of the session, Lt. Gen. (Dr.) Bipin Puri felicitated Ms. Pallavi and expressed appreciation for her efforts in conducting the interactive session. He also shared the following feedback, "Thank you for your insightful talk, which was explicit and extremely well-received. As always, your masterly skills on the subject were a treat to watch."
The session was attended by approximately 30 participants, including consultants, ICU doctors, intensivists, and nursing staff.
-ACT,-2011.gif){kind=spacer}
