On March 24^th 2021, MOHAN Foundation conducted the 4^th batch of Organ Donation Ambassador Training (Module 2). 16 participants, comprising school students, college students, postgraduate medical students and others attended the session. It was a three-hour interactive session from 5-8 pm. 

After the initial welcome by Ms. Jaya Jairam, the participants introduced themselves. This was followed by interaction with experts. Dr. Ravi Mohanka, Liver Transplant Surgeon from Mumbai; Dr. Sunil Shroff, Urologist and Kidney Transplant Surgeon; Mrs. Lalitha Raghuram, Country Director and Ms. Jaya Jairam, a kidney transplant recipient were the experts. There was an hour’s discussion on various aspects of organ donation and transplantation. How to increase donation rates, outcomes and costs of transplants, new research, difficulty during counselling, ethical dilemmas, benefits to the donor family and public perception towards organ donation were discussed.  

This was followed by a session on Gratitude and Communication conducted by Dr. Muneet Kaur Sahi, Programme Manager of MOHAN Foundation. She spoke of the relief in grief that the donor family would feel to receive a letter from the recipient and also gave a few tips about ways to communicate emotions. All participants were requested to write a letter thanking the donor family for the gift of life they received. They were asked to read out their letters and suggestions were provided by Dr. Muneet.  

Ms. Ishwarya Thyagarajan then spoke of the modes of communication and tried and tested methods to create awareness among the public. Awareness talks, information desks, rallies, marathons and online competitions were highlighted. She also gave examples of volunteers helping with fundraising for the cause.  

All ambassadors are expected to conduct awareness talks independently, following this module. Dr. Muneet then guided the participants on how to prepare a presentation with appropriate content and gave important tips on interacting with the public. Sharing her own sample presentation, she explained that not more than 15 slides and 30 minutes of time are required to impress upon the audience the importance of organ donation.  

The Module 2 ended with a poll on the preferred modes of public awareness and if the participants would need further help from the Foundation. A few participants shared their feedback for the session.