To commemorate “World Organ Donation Day”, MOHAN Foundation in collaboration with the Department of Nephrology, Madras Medical Mission organized a one day workshop – “Educating Nurses on Organ Donation” for nursing students of various colleges of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The event was held on Thursday, 28th November 2013 at Madras Medical Mission Hospital, Chennai. It was supported by the Sir Ratan Tata Trust and NavajbaiRatan Tata Trust, Mumbai.

The aim of the workshop was to impart knowledge on organ donation to nursing students. Around 350 participants attended the workshop, which included student nurses, staff nurses and nursing college faculty.

The main objectives of the workshop were:

• To impart knowledge on deceased Organ Donation and Grief Counselling

• To introduce to the students the importance of a Transplant Coordinator and taking up Transplant Coordination as a profession

At the inaugural function, Dr. Sunil Shroff, Managing Trustee, MOHAN Foundation, welcomed the gathering. A special address was given by Ms. Keranal, Staff Nurse, Apollo Hospitals and a member of donor family. She said that as a nurse she had worked in the deceased organ donation programme, yet when her nephew was declared brain dead, she found it very difficult to explain to her own family about his situation. She recounted how she convinced her brother and sisterin- law to give consent for organ donation.

Dr. J. Radhakrishnan, IAS, Secretary to Government, Department of Health & Family Welfare, Government of Tamil Nadu, was the Chief Guest. In his address, he said that organ donation in the state had been possible because of the support of the government, cooperation of hospitals and the dedicated work of grief counsellors and transplant coordinators. He said that transplant coordination should be added in the nursing curriculum. Dr. Gayathri Balagopal and Mr. Mathew P. Abraham of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust were also present at the inaugural function.

Eminent faculty, that included Prof. T. Venkatachalam, Dr. Navin Jayakumar, Dr. S. Vijayaragavan, Mr. K. Veerapandian and Ms. S. Saranya delivered lectures on the various aspects of organ donation, counselling and the role of transplant coordinators. In addition, there was a lively quiz and a street theatre competition in which the students participated enthusiastically.

The Chief Guest for the valedictory function was Ms. Chellamal Mariappan, Secretary, Trained Nurses Association of India, Tamil Nadu State Branch and Administrator, The Evangelical Nurses’ Fellowship of India. She presented awards to nurses from different city hospitals who had contributed significantly to the organ donation programme. The function ended with the prize distribution to the winners of the quiz and street theatre competition.