The 'Transplant Coordination Professional Certificate', a six-week online course hosted by the MOHAN Foundation from October 3 - November 15, 2025 was recently completed with success. A total of 67 candidates (66 from India and 1 from Tanzania) had signed up for the online course.

The key elements of the course included access to the e-learning platform with study materials and resources, online assignments and assessments to reinforce learning, and weekly interactive webinars featuring professionals in organ donation and transplantation.

• Basic Concepts of Organ Donation and Transplantation - Ms. Poonam Sharma, Curriculum Coordinator, MOHAN Foundation

The session provided an overview of key aspects of organ donation and transplantation, covering living donation, donation after circulatory death, and donation after brainstem death. It also touched upon split, swap, and domino transplants, and explained global and Indian organ donation consent systems. The importance of the donor card and its impact on the donation process were also highlighted.

• Brainstem Death - Dr. K Sudeep Kumar, Pediatric intensivist, Kanchi Kamakoti CHILDS Trust Hospital, Chennai

He discussed the identification and certification of brain-dead individuals, covering brainstem death, donor diagnosis and care, related pathophysiology, and conducting apnoea test. He also emphasized the importance of legal requirements and documentation in certifying brainstem death.

• Deceased Donation Coordination - Mr. Sagayam Francis, Multi Organ Transplant Manager, MIOT Hospital, Chennai

The process involved in deceased organ donation, including the required documentation and procedures followed in medico-legal cases, was explained. Additionally, case studies were discussed to highlight and address key challenges in the process.

• THO Act & Rules - Ms. Poonam Sharma, Curriculum Coordinator, MOHAN Foundation

The session provided the participants with a detailed insight of the regulatory framework governing organ donation and transplantation in India. The focus was on the key aspects such as: Brain-death declaration, approvals for related and unrelated living donor transplants, requirements for hospital registration, and detailed protocols for organ donation after brainstem death and living donations, including necessary documentation and legal requirements.

• Approaching families for organ donation - Ms. Lalitha Raghuram, Country Director, MOHAN Foundation

The session emphasized the importance of a well-structured, compassionate approach. The speaker introduced the stages of grief based on the Kübler-Ross model and explained the process of counselling grieving families for organ donation. Key dos and don’ts for transplant coordinators when approaching donor families were also discussed.

• Ethical dilemmas in organ donation and transplant - Ms. Sujatha Suriyamoorthi, Associate Director - Courses, MOHAN Foundation

The components of medical ethics-beneficence, non-maleficence, transference, justice, confidentiality, and autonomy, were discussed with the participants. Case studies were shared as part of the session, and participants were encouraged to apply these ethical principles and share their perspectives on each scenario.

• Living donor transplant - Role of the transplant coordinator - Ms. Alishya Susan Poulose, Senior Transplant Coordinator Integrated Liver Care, Aster Medcity, Kochi

The session covered key aspects of the living donor transplant program, including coordination of the medical and psychological evaluation of the donor, recipient, and caregivers. It also addressed the coordination of legal workup and documentation, obtaining necessary approvals for transplantation, and post-donation and post-transplant follow-up.

• Role of recipient transplant coordinators in deceased donor transplant - Ms. Udayini Khuman, Transplant Coordinator, Metro Heart Institute with Multispeciality, Faridabad

The session focused on preparing patients in advance for a donor call, coordinating with patients and in-house teams, the State body, and the donor hospital, and managing retrieval and transplant surgery. It also covered transport arrangements such as air transfer and green corridors, communication with the recipient’s family, providing periodic updates.

An online examination was conducted on November 15, 2025, and 51 candidates were awarded course completion certificates upon successfully passing the exam.

Feedback

Thanks to MOHAN Foundation for the knowledge gaining session. I have a strong suggestion that the same manner deceased donor transplant has a common app / portal to upload the documents of donor and recipients, there should be a portal for living donor transplant’s documents to be uploaded. The veracity and genuineness of the same should be verified by a government agency like Transtan before listing before state level or district level authorisation committee. MOHAN foundation should take initiative to implement this. Keep up the good initiatives towards organ donation programs.

Mr. Joseph C Sunny, GM-Operations & Transplant Services - Tamil Nadu (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the MOHAN Foundation for conducting such a comprehensive and well-structured Transplant Coordinator Course. The sessions were highly informative, and the resource persons explained each topic with great clarity and real-life relevance. The training has significantly enhanced my understanding of organ donation, transplantation processes, counselling skills, and hospital coordination. Overall, this training has been a very enriching experience, and I feel better equipped to contribute effectively as a transplant coordinator. Thank you to the MOHAN Foundation for your dedication and commitment to capacity building in this crucial area of healthcare.

Mrs. Meethu P Sebastian, DSRC COUNSELLOR - Kerala (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)