On January 24, 2023, the MOHAN Foundation was invited to conduct an online awareness session on organ donation for students in class 12 and college students pursuing professional training in office administration. The session was part of a drive that is being conducted by the MOHAN Foundation pursuant to a collaboration with the Transplants Help Transplants Help the Poor Foundation. As part of the campaign, sessions to raise awareness were held at other ICICI Foundation locations in different cities across India. Mr. Amit Kumar Sinha, Faculty Center In-charge (FCI), ICICI Academy for Skills, Dehradun, coordinated with the MOHAN Foundation-Delhi NCR team to organise this session. Dr. Muneet Kaur Sahi, Program Manager, MOHAN Foundation—Delhi NCR, was the resource person.

 

ICICI Academy for Skills, Dehradun, is part of the ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth. The ICICI Foundation’s mission is to promote inclusive growth in India through focused initiatives in identified areas, including primary healthcare, elementary education, skill development, sustainable livelihoods, financial inclusion, and rural development.

 

Dr. Muneet began the session by introducing herself and her colleagues to the participants and explaining the need for organ donation in India. She explained the following topics with the help of a simple PowerPoint presentation:

 

• Organ donation and its need in society

• When and how does organ donation take place?

• Types of organ donation

• Brain death

• difference between brain death and coma

• Role of the MOHAN Foundation

• Myths and facts about organ donation

• Eye donation

• How to pledge for organ donation

• Donor card

 

The term "brain death" was explained with the help of a short informative film. Dr. Muneet informed the participants that brain death is crucial to the process of organ retrieval and transplantation, and without family consent, organs cannot be retrieved. She emphasised the role of families and the importance of family consent in organ donation. She also explained the various steps involved in a brain death declaration and clarified the concept of legal death.

 

MOHAN Foundation’s organ donation toll-free helpline was also shared by Dr. Muneet. She informed the participants that the main objective of this helpline is to provide a service that offers information, support, guidance, and referral for all those concerned with any aspect of organ donation and transplantation.

 

Feedback from the participants:

• very nice session

• I have learned something new from this session.

• The speaker was very good.

• The session gave us motivation to spread awareness about organ donation in our families, schools, and colleges.

 

Close to 65 participnats attended the session.