MOHAN Foundation organized a seminar at Sri Ramachandra Faculty of Management Sciences in Porur, Chennai on 16th December 2021. Around 120 students pursuing their BBA and MBA in Health Management attended the seminar. Organizational support was provided by Ms. T Bharathi, Asst. Professor. Dr. Hemal Kanvinde - QA Officer, Ms. Ishwarya Thyagarajan - Research Associate, and Ms. Sherlyn Fernandes - Program Officer represented MOHAN Foundation. 

The seminar began with an invocation followed by the welcoming and the introduction of the speakers by the students. Dr. K C John, Director - Faculty of Management Sciences addressed the audience and spoke about the importance of creating awareness about organ donation in a country like India which prescribes to the opt-in system. Dr. Selvam Jesiah - Principal, felicitated the guest speakers. 

In the first segment of the seminar, Ms. Ishwarya elaborated on the concepts of organ donation. She spoke about the functions of the organs and the causes of organ failure. She further explained the basic concepts of brain death, criteria for organ donation, the statistics of organ donation, body donation and myths and misconceptions related to organ donation. She shared an inspirational story about a recipient who underwent a double hand transplant and how her quality of life changed after the transplant. At the end of the session a short video on brain death by Dr. Sandeep Vaishya was played. 

The second session was conducted by Dr. Hemal, which included the following topics: (a) Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994 and (b) Protocols to be followed in a hospital during deceased donations. She explained about the legal criteria for organ donation and transplantation, brain death certification and the roles of various stakeholders. She also spoke about the regulations and procedures to be followed by hospitals wishing to register as retrieval or transplantation centers. Later, a role play involving the students was enacted to help them understand the protocols to be followed during a deceased organ donation in a hospital. The role of the transplant coordinator/grief counselor and career scope for the health management students in this setting were highlighted. 

At the end of the session a video of a recipient who underwent kidney transplant was played. The recipient spoke about the hardships she faced when both her kidneys failed and how a transplant gave her hope and strength. Following this, the procedure to pledge organs and importance of family consent were explained to the audience. 

The audience raised a few questions, including:

• Is organ wastage highly common?
• How can an orphan pledge his/her organ?
• Government schemes/financial assistance available for those who cannot afford the transplantation costs
• Success rates of xenotransplantation
• Are the organs specifically charged? 

All the questions were answered by the speakers. 12 attendees pledged their organs and donor cards were distributed to them. Associate Professor, Dr Subashree Anantaraman thanked the speakers for an enlightening session. Ms. Bharathi expressed her gratitude towards MOHAN Foundation in her vote of thanks. MOHAN Foundation is thankful to SRIHER and Faculty of Management Sciences for the opportunity.