Renowned US Organ Transplant Surgeon Dr. Francis L. Delmonico Supports Deceased Organ Donation in India

“I’m proud to be in Chennai that is fast becoming the hub of deceased organ donation in India,” said Dr. Francis L. Delmonico, world renowned organ transplant surgeon and a vigorous campaigner for deceased organ donation programs all over the world, on his two day visit to Chennai, South India today. Dr. Delmonico is President-elect of The World Transplantation Society, Professor of Surgery Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Medical Director of the New England Organ Bank and Advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO) among other things. Addressing a gathering of transplant co-coordinators, doctors, government representatives and the media, hosted by MOHAN Foundation (Multi Organ Harvesting Network), a key player in promoting and facilitating organ donation in many parts of South India, Dr. Delmonico lauded the efforts made in Chennai to improve India’s rate of deceased organ donation, saying Delhi and Mumbai need to learn from Chennai’s example in this area. Sharing the WHO critical pathways and his experience in clearing some hurdles in organ donation and transplantation, Dr. Delmonico said he visited the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, Ms. Jayalalitha yesterday, June 28, 2011 and discussed how the deceased organ donation program could be taken forward in the state.

Dr. Sunil Shroff, Managing Trustee of MOHAN Foundation elaborated on the course module for the Transplant Coordinators’ Training Program evolved by MOHAN Foundation that trains candidates to liaise with hospitals and bereaved families to facilitate organ donation and transplantation. The triumph of the cause lay in the fact that organs donations and transplantations have been a made possible by a shared effort of nurses, doctors, hospitals, the government, facilitators and bereaved families of deceased organ donors. Dr. Delmonico observed that MOHAN Foundation’s representatives should have “greater access to intensive care units (ICUs), medical authorities in hospitals and others sitting in the sidelines to make the donation process smoother.” Mr. P.W.C. Davidar IAS observed that Tamilnadu had come a long way in having the procedures in place to facilitate organ donation and pledged to continue working to make things easier from the government’s side.

Ms.Veena, Transplant Coordinator, MOHAN Foundation made a presentation on the organ donations achieved in Government hospital in the last year till date. Out of the 76 brain dead patients identified, families of 49 agreed for organ donation and 27 families said, “No” to organ donation for various reasons such as religious beliefs, anger at the medical treatment, anger and grief at the situation etc. Besides these, several roadblocks identified by the foundation that hampered organ donation were presented and discussed. Some impediments discussed, revolved around identification of brain dead patients, maintenance of brain dead patients, lab results, brain death certification, police inquest, authorization for organ removal, postmortem and transportation.

Dr. Delmonico presented certificates to the participants of the Transplant Coordinators’ Training program conducted by Mohan Foundation in April 2011. Dr. Delmonico said his visit to Chennai was prompted by Tamilnadu’s success in the deceased organ donation program in the last 2 years. The organ donor rate in the southern state in India stands at 1.2 per million population which is 15 times the national average. The success lies in the coming together of government administration, government and private hospitals, NGOs like MOHAN Foundation and NNOS.

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Source-Medindia