Valedictory of 8th One Month Transplant Coordinators Program : An Exclusive Coverage

MOHAN Foundation, under the aegis of National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) organized the valedictory function of the 8th ‘One Month Transplant Coordinators’ Training Programme’. An hour-long program, it was held on 23rd May, 2017 at ‘The Ushus Uptown’, Chennai. The event was presided over by the Chief Guest, Dr. J. Radhakrishnan, Principal Secretary, Department of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of Tamil Nadu. Dr. P. Balaji, Member Secretary, Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu (TRANSTAN) was the Guest of Honor, while Dr. Vimal Bhandari, Director, NOTTO, Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India, attended the program from Delhi via Skype.

International guests who were present at the valedictory function included Dr. Campbell Fraser, Griffith University, Australia and Dr. Naoru Koizumi, George Mason University, USA.

The Transplant Coordinators Training Program

31 transplant coordinators graduated after successfully completing a one month intensive program with MOHAN Foundation. The faculty included doctors and senior transplant coordinators, and MOHAN Foundation faculty from across the country.

“Health sector is not just a job, but a service. We are a long way from reaching our goals and NGOs may add value by filling the gap. This kind of gap filling approach is what produces result. Our goal to excel in what we are doing, and each of us can contribute towards this program.” said the Chief Guest, Dr. J. Radhakrishnan.

Dr. P. Balaji pointed out that TRANSTAN was supporting the placement of transplant coordinators in five government hospitals in Tamil Nadu.

The one month training program inculcates in-depth practices of medical, legal and counseling aspects, and transport coordination. The dignitaries gave away certificates to the 31 graduates from across the country - Assam, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Odisha, Maharashtra, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu.

Dr. Sunil Shroff, senior consultant urologist and a pioneer in organ donation and transplantation in India, added, “We hope that these 31 graduates from all over the country will go back and be champions in facilitating many more organ donations in the country.”

What Is The Role Of a Transplant Coordinator?

Transplant coordinators act as bridges. Their roles involve counselling the family of brain dead patients; coordinating the retrieval and transplantation of organs or tissues and taking care of the needs of the recipient.

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A number of group activities were part of the training process. Field visits to a dialysis unit, blood bank, skin bank and eye bank were organized. The participants also underwent Basic Life Support training.

“Our goal is to open 10 State Organ & Tissue Transplant Organizations (SOTTOs) across the country and every district to have a retrieval center,” said Dr. Vimal Bhandari, Director, NOTTO.

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Every participant is now in a position to initiate an organ donation program in his or her hospital, city, region and work.

MOHAN Foundation Is All About Passion For A Cause

MOHAN Foundation was started in 1997 in Chennai, to promote organ donation. It is a non-profit, non-governmental organization led by Dr. Sunil Shroff. Apart from Chennai, its offices are located in Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR, Chandigarh, Nagpur, Jaipur, Mumbai and USA. MOHAN Foundation works to ensure that every Indian who is suffering from end stage organ failure is provided with the 'gift of life’ through a life-saving organ.

According to Dr. Sunil Shroff, almost 70% of transplantations that take place in the country are through these well-trained coordinators. There is a great demand for this training program in the country. The course is tailored to the needs of people from both medical and non-medical background.

In the last seven-and-a-half years, MOHAN Foundation has trained about 1400 coordinators in the country. The Foundation is now planning to expand this program to Odisha, West Bengal and Assam.

Who Can Donate?

People of all ages can donate organs and tissue. Organ donation involves retreiving healthy organs and tissues from one individual and transplanting them in another. A single organ donor can save up to eight lives. Organs like kidneys, heart, liver, pancreas, intestines, lungs, and tissues like skin, cornea, bone and heart valves can be donated.

At the end of valedictory function, Medindia conducted a short interview with Dr. Sumana Navin, Course Director, MOHAN Foundation. Dr. Navin has been associated with MOHAN Foundation for 19 years and has been conducting the Transplant coordinators’ training program since December 2009.

Medindia: How can we create awareness about this training program?

Dr.Sumana: Going out more into colleges that are engaged in social work and nursing colleges, penetrating a little deeper into two-tier and three-tier towns and spreading awareness about organ donation and transplantation.

One can have a three-pronged approach - talk about prevention of organ failure, about organ donation, and then about the people who facilitate the donation – trained transplant coordinators. The training programs that are available and the collaboration with NOTTO and the state bodies need to be mentioned.

Medindia: Would you like to convey a message to our youngsters?

Dr.Sumana: We are all going to die, but we can save lives, so let’s do that. Let’s have conversations about organ donation and save lives.

References:

1. Mohan Foundation - (http://www.mohanfoundation.org/)

Source-Medindia