Delegates at the Annual Transplant Coordinators’ Workshop 2010 participated in a free paper session on various topics (public education, hospital contact programme, liaison with government, experiences with recipients and donor families) where they introduced a novel concept. It was an opportunity for the delegates to “Learn, Cherish & Share” their knowledge and work in transplant coordination.

There were nine free paper presentations by delegates from Chennai, Coimbatore and Gujarat. Dr. Subrahmanyam, Consultant nephrologist, Global Hospitals, judged the session on the basis of content and mode of presentation.

Ms. Priya Jebakaran, Clinical and cardiac transplant coordinator, Frontier Lifeline Hospital, Chennai gave a presentation on “The role of a recipient transplant coordinator.” She shared the qualities and skills that a transplant coordinator has to develop to be successful in the transplantation field. She emphasized the importance of communication, time management, protocols, event documentation and follow-up of patients. Between October 2009 and July 2010, she attended 45 donor calls and coordinated seven successful heart transplantations.

“A faithful friend is the medicine of life” – this aptly describes Sqn. Ldr. (Dr). Ravi Wankhede. He helped his dear friend, Mr. Salim Chimthanawala, who was suffering from chronic renal failure, by donating his kidney, thus saving his friend’s life. Dr.Wankhede epitomizes the spirit of altruism and was best suited to speak on the topic of “Unrelated kidney donation for altruism.” He said that the formalities required by law are an ordeal, yet not insurmountable. The operation took place on 26th May 2009 and was successful. He added that the event was highly publicized in the print and electronic media as a unique and exemplary act of friendship because they belonged to different communities. But as he put it, “Frankly, it never struck me that I was doing it for any other motive than to help a friend.”

Dr. (Mrs). Sujata Rajapurkar, Transplant Coordinator, Muljibhai Patel Urological Hospital, Gujarat spoke about the “Cadaver donation programme in Nadiad” and the coordination that is required during the transplant process. She mainly focused on the attention that needs to be given to the donor family pre and post donation. An appreciation letter is given to the family immediately after organ retrieval and the transplant coordinator makes it a point to attend the condolence meeting arranged by the family. Dr. Sujata said that she believed that transplant coordinators are the “doorway” through which the family has access to their memories of the deceased, allowing them to speak out and share their thoughts.

Mr. C.B. Chandrasekaran, Transplant Coordinator, Department of Nephrology, K.G. Hospital, Coimbatore presented a study on the experience of cadaveric organ donation at his hospital from January 2000 to July 2010. The total number of cadaveric organ donors was 10, in this 7 donors were in house and 3 donors were shifted from other places – 2 from Erode located 100 km away and 1 from Trivandrum 500 km away. All the solid organs were shared and successfully transplanted. He spoke about the different modes of transportation used to facilitate the process – four livers were airlifted to different centres, two to Chennai and two to Hyderabad. He concluded that 9% of the renal transplants done in K.G. Hospital are from cadaveric organ donors.

Ms. Sujata Sooriyamoorthy, Transplant Coordinator from MOHAN Foundation spoke about the “Conversion of Deceased Organ Donation” at Government General Hospital, Chennai. She gave a statistical presentation on the number of brain dead patients from February 2010 to July 2010 and the number of families who were approached - there were 29 brain dead donors during this period and after counselling 22 families said “yes” to organ donation. This is a 76% conversion rate. Of the 22 brain dead donors, 15 donors went on to actual solid organ donation, while 7 donors became unstable and therefore only tissue donation (corneas and heart valves) took place.

Mr. Christopher Asir, Transplant Coordinator from MOHAN Foundation, made a presentation on the “Logistics of deceased organ donation.” He touched upon the problems encountered during the entire process of transplant coordination, i.e. donor identification, maintenance, declaration, consent from families, retrieval process and post mortem. He also offered possible solutions to some of these problems. All the logistics were discussed based on the experience at Government General Hospital, Chennai.

Mr. G. Mukesh, Transplant Coordinator from MOHAN Foundation, spoke about the organ donation sensitization programmes, which have been conducted for various groups like school and college students, corporate sectors, social organizations, NGOs, family gatherings etc. MOHAN Foundation has covered almost 12 districts in Tamil Nadu. A pre- and post-talk survey was conducted at the sensitization programmes and the results showed that many were not aware of the concept of brain death, solid organ donation and the legal aspects of organ donation. Through the sensitization programmes, we came to know that the general public welcomes and supports the noble cause of organ donation. Almost 99% of the people who attended the programme pledged for a donor card at the end.

Ms. Veena, Transplant Coordinator from MOHAN Foundation gave a presentation on the organ donation sensitization programme for nurses at Government General Hospital, Chennai. A pre-awareness survey on organ donation was conducted for nurses and the results showed that 80% of nurses had no knowledge about Brain death concept, 60 % of nurses were not aware that buying and selling organs was illegal. After listening to the talk on organ donation, all 103 nurses who attended the programme supported the cause by pledging for a donor card. The impact also has been that eye donation at Government General Hospital, Chennai has increased thanks to the efforts of these nurses. In addition, two nurses donated their family members’ corneas at their residence.

Ms. Veena presented one more paper on the Transplant Coordinators’ Training Programme and a glimpse into their projects. MOHAN Foundation started the first structured training course for transplant coordinators in South-East Asia in December 2009. The coordinators who undergo this training for 1 week, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months are assigned a project, which helps them to enhance their skills and gain more knowledge in the field. MOHAN Foundation has conducted two 1-month courses in Chennai and a 1-week course in Hyderabad and has trained around 60 coordinators who are working across our country. The coordinators have worked innovatively and creatively to prepare excellent projects, which can be used to create awareness among different groups. These include colourful posters on organ donation, videos, flip-charts, booklets on recipient coordination and post-transplant care in different languages and information on the development of transport systems for transporting organs across the country.

Ms. Veena’s presentation on “A Glimpse into Transplant Coordinators’ Projects” was adjudged the Best Free Paper and Dr. (Mrs). Sujata Rajapurkar received the runner-up prize. Dr. Subrahmanyam commended all the participants on the work that they had put into their presentations.