The 17th one week Transplant Coordinators’ Training Programme was held from 8th to 12th December 2014 at KEM Hospital (CVTS Building), Mumbai. It was organised by MOHAN Foundation in collaboration with ZTCC (Zonal Transplant Coordination Centre, Mumbai). There were 34 participants from various parts of Maharashtra and Gujarat. A kidney transplant recipient and the parents of a heart transplant recipient were also there to learn and support the cause.

At the inaugural function, Dr. Shubangi Parkar, Dean, KEM Hospital, said that deceased organ donation was the ideal way to help people. She also appreciated the work being done by MOHAN Foundation. Mr. Bapu Patwardhan, a volunteer of ZTCC who had participated in the Transplant Coordinators’ Training Programme in November 2013 in Mumbai, recited a couplet in Urdu - “His lips will no longer smile, but he will bring smiles to many others – that is the supreme achievement of a brain dead person.” Dr. Sujata Patwardhan, General Secretary, ZTCC, and the MOHAN Foundation faculty were present on the occasion.

There were lucid presentations on the medical aspects of organ donation and transplantation by Dr. Harshad Purandare, Dr. Shruthi Tandan, Dr. N. K. Hase, Dr. Jatin Kothari, Dr. Viswanath Billa, Dr. Chhaya Shinde, Dr. Aabha Nagral, Dr. Ravi Mohanka and Dr. Madhuri Mahendrakar. Dr. Sanjay Nagral led an extremely interesting debate on the ethics of organ donation and transplantation. Dr. Rajesh Dere’s session on handling medico-legal cases and post-mortem drew a lot of questions from the participants given that most deceased organ donors are road traffic accident victims. Dr. Sunil Keswani’s session on skin donation was motivating – from April to November 2014 there were 182 skin donations at the National Burns Centre, Mumbai. Dr. Ganesh Sanap gave valuable information about a not-for-profit swap registry called ASTRA. Dr. Kailash Jawade, KEM Hospital presented an interesting study – “Impact of systematic approach to promote cadaveric organ donation in public Institute: Pilot study.”

The MOHAN Foundation faculty shared moving donor stories, grief counseling, life skills for a transplant coordinator, the legal aspects of organ donation and transplantation, establishment of a deceased donation programme in a hospital, the successful experience in the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai, role of public education and social media in organ donation. Transplant coordinators from various hospitals in Mumbai presented case studies. They discussed on-the-ground challenges and the ways of tackling it. Mr. Anirudha Kulkarni, Ms. Sujata Nadar, Dr. Rekha Barot and Mr. Santosh Sorate spoke extremely articulately giving valuable inputs to the participants. Ms. Sujata Ashtekar spoke on public awareness and the special campaigns undertaken in Mumbai. Dr. B. C. Kempipatil, Dr. Sujata Patwardhan, and Dr. S.K. Mathur elaborated on the role of ZTCC and MCFOT (Maharashtra Confederation for Organ Transplantation). Following a post training evaluation, certificates were handed over to the participants at the valedictory session.