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The VIII All India Transplant and First Official SAARC Games in Chennai. |
Among all these scandals the one event that brought smiles to the transplant programme was the Transplant games held at Chennai’s Rajarathnam Stadium on 13 and 14 December 2003. For the first time there were many transplant patients from neighbouring SAARC countries and included almost 40 patients from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh and even Seychelles. The Nepal contingents were in the largest number and won the maximum medals. his we hope will give them encouragement to evolve their own kidney transplant programme in Nepal. Mr. Shiv Kumar Agarwal from Nepal along with MOHAN foundation sponsored part of the patients stay and travel expenses upto Rs 2000.00 per head.
The highlight of the games was the presence of Anju Bobby George. All the participants were delighted to see her and got themselves photographed with her. She came with her coach and husband Mr. Bobby. They were touched looking at the participants. Anju said that seeing these patients gave her even more determination to try for a medal in the forthcoming Athens Olympics. The other stars were Mrs. Revathi Menon and Mr. Srikanth. Mrs. Revathi was the recipient of the first donor card and she was proud to show it to the audience. The awareness walk had more than 2000 participants from colleges and was led by a nine year old kidney transplant and an eleven year old liver transplant recipient. A memorable moment for the transplant programme of the country and indicated that the liver programme was here to stay and grow.
For the first time the games were organised by two NGOs (MOHAN and TANKER) . The members worked hard to make the event. The budget seemed very tight especially because of the minimum support from the Pharma industry, however the enthusiasm and smiles on the faces of the participants was an ample reward for the hard work of the members of both the NGOs.
How to cite this article: - Shroff S, Navin S. The VIII All India Transplant and First Official SAARC Games in Chennai.. Indian Transplant Newsletter Vol. V Issue NO.: 16 (Oct 2003 - Feb 2004)
How to cite this URL: - Shroff S, Navin S. The VIII All India Transplant and First Official SAARC Games in Chennai.. Indian Transplant Newsletter Vol. V Issue NO.: 16 (Oct 2003 - Feb 2004). Available at: https://www.itnnews.co.in/indian-transplant-newsletter/issue16/Editorial-desk-272.htm ![]() |