It was the spirit of sharing that brought about the formation of the “Initiative for organ sharing group” in Chennai and it is the same spirit that keeps the group moving forward. In the 18 months of its existence, about 35 cadaveric transplants have been performed under its umbrella.

The last meeting at Apollo hospitals, Chennai was a special one since doctors in the transplant field from Coimbatore, Madurai and the government hospitals in Chennai had been invited to discuss the feasibility of joining the group, extending the network and promoting cadaveric transplantation. Dr. Sunil Shroff, managing trustee, MOHAN Foundation briefed the gathering about INOS and its work until now. Dr. Balasubramaniam from Coimbatore and Dr. Dinakaran from Madurai express their keenness to join the group. Dr. Vijaykumar from Stanley medical college and Dr. Jayakumar from Madras medical college commended the work of INOS, but explained that since government institution had to work within constraints like availability of personnel, the precise modalities of being part of a group like INOS would need to be worked out through a government  order.

Prominent eye hospital like Sankara Nethralaya and Agarwal’s eye hospital were also invited to this meet to address the issue of organ donation as a whole and not only restrict it to eye donation. It has been found that eye donation often acts as an ice-breaker while discussing the option of organ donation with families.

The highlight of the evening was a talk on Islet cell transplantation by Prof. V. Mohan, Director, Diabetes Specialties Center, and Chennai. He spoke about the path “Edmonton Protocol” and the research that is underway here in Chennai to grow islets under the aegis of the Diabetes Research Foundation that is being set up. The previous INOS meeting had a very interesting talk on skin donation, preservation and transplantation by Dr. Moorthy of SMF.