On November 19, 2016, Dr Sunil Shroff and Ms Pallavi Kumar were invited to speak at the first ever Organ Transplant Summit 2016 organised by DKS Post Graduate Institute & Research Centre Raipur, Chhattisgarh. This was in association with Dr.B.R.A.M Hospital, Pt. J.N.M Medical College and Directorate of Medical Education. The initiative to organize the summit was taken by Dr Punit Gupta, Medical Superintendent and Academic In charge, DKS Post Graduate Institute & Research Centre Raipur.

 

The Summit was aimed to sensitise and educate medical and non-medical representatives on the various aspects of organ donation and transplantation and had experts from various fields from across the country to address the participants.

 

The Honorable Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Sh. Raman Singh (Chief Guest) along with Honorable Health Minister, Sh. Ajay Chandrakar (Guest of Honour) inaugurated the summit. In his address, Sh. Raman Singh assured that the Chhattisgarh government would fully support the transplant program going forward. He acknowledged that while there has been a delay, the state will soon adopt the Transplantation of Human Organs Act and begin whatever work that is required to start transplantations in the state. He also expressed gratitude to all the experts who had come for the summit to deliver lectures and said that going forward, their help and guidance will be sought. The Health Minister echoed the sentiments of the Chief Minister and assured everyone present of full support from the government.

 

Dr. Sunil Shroff made a presentation on, "Organ Donation & Transplant - An overview and current status in India".  He also discussed what all ingredients are needed to start an organ donation and transplant program in the country. An intense discussion followed his presentation and many queries came up which were answered by Dr. Shroff.

 

Ms. Pallavi Kumar gave an overview on The Transplantation of Human Organs Act and rules.

 

Other sessions in the summit were:

• Emergency Transportation for organ Sharing by Dr. Yash Javeri
• Sessions on Kidney transplantation by Dr. Georgi Abraham and Dr Manish Jain
• Starting Renal Transplantation in a govt. set up by Dr B. Suryaprakash
• Basics of Liver Transplantation by Dr. Ramdip Ray
• Basics of Heart Transplant by Dr. Rahul Chandola
• Skin Donation by Dr. Sunil Keswani
• Corneal Donation by Dr. Vikas Mittal

 

This was followed by a panel discussion with representatives from both the private and the government sector hospitals, police, media, NGO etc. The panelists included:

• Mr. Subrat Sahoo, Principal Secretary, Health & Family Welfare, CG
• Dr. Ashok Chandrakar, Director Medical Education, Chhattisgarh
• Dr. Abha Singh, Dean Pt J.N.M Medical College, Raipur
• Mr. D M Awasthi, ADG (CG Police)
• Dr. Georgi Abraham, Transplant Nephrologist
• Dr. Sunil Verma, Chief Advisor, DME
• Mr. Ramesh Naiyer, Senior Journalist
• Mr. Anand Thakur, Senior Advocate
• Mr. Premchand Chabra, NGO Badhte Kadam

 

The panel was moderated by Dr. Sunil Shroff.

 

The panelists debated upon the roadmap for Chhattisgarh to enable transplants to start in the state and the role that various stakeholders will be required to play to make it happen. Close to 600 people attended the full day summit.