The 17th Congress of the International Society for Organ Donation Professionals (ISODP 2025), held from December 3–6, 2025, in Kyoto, Japan, brought together over 500 organ donation professionals from across the world to reflect on shared challenges and future directions in donation and transplantation. At this global forum, MOHAN Foundation's voice—firmly grounded in on-ground realities from India and Asia-found strong resonance.

Representing the Foundation, Dr Sunil Shroff, Managing Trustee, and Ms Pallavi Kumar, Executive Director, were invited as speakers and moderators, contributing across plenary, concurrent, and workshop sessions.

A key highlight of the Congress was Ms Pallavi Kumar's plenary address, “ISODP–DICG: Financial Neutrality in Deceased Donation and Transplantation.” Drawing from more than sixteen years of experience with donor families in India, the plenary brought sharp focus to financial neutrality as a core ethical principle—particularly relevant in Asian settings where out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure remains high and social protection systems are uneven.

Rooted in lived experience rather than theory, the address urged participants to look beyond altruism as rhetoric and engage with the ethical tensions families face at moments of profound loss. It questioned how systems can truly honour generosity if families are left financially vulnerable, and how safeguards must ensure that donation is never driven by hardship or fear. By centering Asia's realities within a global ethical framework, the plenary sparked thoughtful discussion on dignity, equity, and trust in deceased donation.

Ms Kumar further developed these themes in the concurrent session “Saving Lives Together: A Unified Approach to Organ Transplantation in Underserved Areas,” presenting on “Enhancing Healthcare Equity: Public-Private Partnerships for Organ Donation and Transplantation in Underserved Areas in India.” The session highlighted India's evolving partnership models—between government, private healthcare, and civil society—and demonstrated how structured collaboration can build sustainable donation and transplant systems even in resource-constrained regions.

Dr Sunil Shroff brought MOHAN Foundation's four decades of institutional experience to the Congress. At the Pre-Congress Workshop, “Taking Asian Donation to the Next Level,” he spoke on “Developing and Sustaining Effective Education Programs for Both Healthcare Professionals and the Public,” emphasizing education as the cornerstone of resilient donation systems.

In the concurrent session on Organ Donation Organization Architecture, Dr Shroff addressed “Building Sustainability: Fundraising Challenges and Opportunities for Organ Donation Organisations,” candidly examining the financial realities of sustaining ethical, non-profit donation programmes in low- and middle-income countries.

He went on to moderate several important sessions, including Donation Challenges and Opportunities in Asia, How to Improve Organ Utilisation Rates, and the Mini-Oral Abstract Session on International Perspectives on Donation Culture and Practice, in addition to poster presentations, helping surface shared challenges while encouraging cross-regional learning.

ISODP traces its origins to the first International Organ Procurement and Preservation Symposium in 1987 and has evolved into a biennial global forum, renamed ISODP in 2024, dedicated to strengthening donation systems worldwide. Together, Dr Shroff and Ms Kumar reinforced a central message at ISODP 2025: that building strong organ donation systems-especially in underserved regions—demands not only technical excellence, but moral courage, institutional partnerships, and an unwavering commitment to dignity.

Ms Pallavi Kumar at the opening plenary at the ISODP 2025

Ms Pallavi Kumar at the panel discussion on Financial Neutrality post the plenary sessions

Dr Sunil Shroff with the participants at the concurrent session he moderated on donation challenges in Asia