Honouring the families of Organ Donors at Vellore

A moving function honouring the relatives of organ donors was held in the Scudder Auditorum at Christian Medical College, Vellore, on 9^th October 2004.

As a participating Hospital of Cadaver organ sharing network CMC hospital Honored families of Organ Donors, who during extreme distress of their loved ones, came forward for giving life to many suffering with organ failures. 26 organ donor families were felicitated. The function began with a prayer by Rev. Arul Dhas, who also ably doubled as a translator of all later speeches into chaste Tamil. This was followed by a small but significant ceremony of planting trees along two avenues on the west side of the college campus, in memory and Honor of the Donor.

The Chief Guest, Dr. Purushotham Vijayakumar, Deputy Joint Director of Family Welfare, Vellore District made a speech which was intersperse with quotations from the Bible and the Bhagavath Gita. He dwelt at length on the commonality of different religions and then spoke of the high idealism of organ donations. His speech was well received by the audience as he seamlessly spoke both in Tamil and English. Thereafter, the transplant Coordinator, Mr. Sahyam presented a brief summary of lives of those who donated organs. Dr. Sudipta Sen preceded this by recounting a story of sacrificial giving from Mahabaratha.

Felicitatory speeches from the Director, the Medical Superintendent, Dr. Matthew Joseph (who with his team and tireless effort keeps these dead donors’ heart and lungs functioning till harvest time). The function was organized to honor the donor family along with the help of MOHAN Foundation. The special invitees were called to the stage, to receive a certificate and momento a small acknowledgement for the invaluable deed, from the Chief Guest. After a vote of thanks and National Anthem, the invitees, the guests and the hosts had dinner in the Scudder Hall. The departmentsof Urology, Nephrology and the Liver Transplant Group of CMC, Vellore, organized the function.