MOHAN Foundation

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Template:Infobox organization

MOHAN Foundation is a not-for-profit, registered non-government charity organisation in India[1] that works in the field of deceased organ donation and transplantation.[2] MOHAN is an acronym for Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network.

It has offices in Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Nagpur, Jaipur and information centers at Kerala and Imphal.

History

MOHAN Foundation was first conceived in 1996 and was started in 1997 in Chennai,[3][4] It was founded by urologist and transplant surgeon Sunil Shroff.[5][6][7]

It has its headquarters in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.

Promoting organ donation

File:Sand Sculpture.jpg
Sand Sculpture made as a part of Rally organised by MOHAN Foundation at Marina Beach

In 1994, the Indian parliament passed the Transplantation of Human Organ Act that accepted brain death for organ donation and made organ commerce a punishable offense. For the first time in India it was possible for the deceased to donate their organs and tissues provided the family consented to organ donation.[8][9] India follows informed consent, unlike Spain and some of the other European countries that follow presumed consent. There are 23 organs in the human body and one can donate kidney, heart, liver, lungs, pancreas and the small bowel as well as tissues like cornea, skin, bone, tendons, cartilage and heart valves.[9][10][11] However, due to the lack of awareness level among the public and medical professionals, this concept of organ donation in India needed a shift in attitudes.[12][13]

The foundation organises awareness talks among public through meetings, holds rallies, organises programmes in colleges and offices with organ donation as a theme, sensitises police and hospital staff on issues related to donation and from time to time honours organ donor families. Donor cards and brochures related to organ donation and brain death are distributed at such events.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] MOHAN Foundation organised an "Organ Donation Rally" at Marina Beach, Chennai. A first-of-its-kind sand sculpture on organ donation was also created on the sands of the Marina beach.[24] Rajasthan did its first deceased donor due to efforts of the Foundation in set up the Rajasthan Network for Organ Sharing Registry.[25] Similar registries were set up for Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

In 2018, the Foundation created a unique art installations of organs made from human ashes to promote the cause of organ donation. The installation titled, 'Life before Ashes', had a simple underlying message that, 'what have become ashes could have been another human's heart or kidney. If only the organs were donated.'[26][27][28][29]

In March 2019, MOHAN (Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network) Foundation, one of the oldest NGOs working towards promoting awareness for organ donation in India, held an event in Delhi where popular Sufi singer duo, Nizami Bandhu thrilled everyone with their songs and music.[30] Every year, MOHAN Foundation organises a mega organ donation awareness event called Samarthan, which attracts nearly 350-400 individuals and senior doctors and transplant surgeons from leading hospitals across National Capital Region and nearby with the objective for creating awareness and understanding about organ donation and in 2019 Samarthan was held on 2 March at the beautiful Zorba on MG Road, New Delhi.[30]

Green color and ribbon for organ donation

Green is a color that popularly symbolizes recycling ([31]) . It is used also for environment for preserving the natural environment. Green is also used for organ donation and MOHAN Foundation in 2018 bathed important monuments in India to become green transplantation.[32][33][34][35][36] Similarly the Green ribbon too symbolizes organ donation.[37][38]

Associated celebrities

File:Sheila dixit signing organ donation card.jpg
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit signs on the pledge board at the MOHAN Foundation fundraiser event in the capital, before signing it

Celebrities like actors, cricket players, religious leaders and politicians have been used to popularise the concept of organ donation and create public awareness about the cause.

In India, Priyanka Chopra, Anil Kumble, Revathi Menon, Madhavan, Suniel Shetty, Sivakumar, Kiran Rao, Raveena Tandon, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Gautam Gambhir, Farah Khan, Nandita Das, Aamir Khan and Anand Gandhi are some of the celebrities who have promoted and pledged their organs.[39][40] [41][42][43] Actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has promoted eye donation in the past.

In April 2012, Sheila Dikshit, the Chief Minister of Delhi, became the first chief minister in India to pledge her organs when she signed a pledge board on organ donation at an event held in Delhi.[44]

In 2014, Former Captain of India Kapil Dev Pledges his support for organ donation by signing the Donor Card.

On 7 October 2020, Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan also pledged to donate his organs.[45]

Organ donor card

File:Donor card.jpg
Organ Donation Card

Donor cards express one's desire to donate organs after death and have been used by MOHAN Foundation to create awareness and get organ pledges. Over a million such cards in English and regional Indian languages (Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Bengali and Marathi)[46] have been distributed by the foundation in over a decade.[47][48] In a major organ donation drive in March 2012 called DAAN, it partnered with HCL Technologies along with Apollo Group of Hospitals, Chennai Police, Indian Medical Association, Cadaver Transplant Programme (Government of Tamil Nadu) and received 12,900+ pledges from policemen, doctors and corporate employees. This was the largest organ donation campaigns in the country at that time.[49][50] However this record was superseded by the Times of India in July and August 2013. TOI partnered with four NGO's in the field of organ donation – Shatayu, Gift Your organ, Gift a Life and MOHAN Foundation to create awareness and received 50,000 plus pledges for organs.[51][52][53]

Training Transplant Coordinators

A transplant coordinator is a medical professional – a doctor, an allied healthcare professional or a medical social worker – who coordinates activities related to organ donation. One of their core functions is to counsel the families of a brain dead individual for organ donation.[54] These coordinators can act as link between hospitals, citizens, donors and patients requiring organ donation.[55] The foundation provides training for coordinators including courses of one week, one month, 6 months and one year in length. The one year Post Graduate Diploma in Transplant Coordination and Grief Counselling is a unique blended learning course (E-learning and face-to-face session ) for working health care professionals.[56][57]

These training programmes have partly been funded by one of the oldest philanthropic institutions in India, Sir Ratan Tata Trust & Navajbai Ratan Tata Trust. Coordinators are trained in medical, legal and ethical aspects related to organ donation and are also imparted soft skills for grief counseling. The structured training ensures that they are able to approach and counsel the families of brain dead patients for organ donation.[58][59][60][61] Coordinators facilitate organ donation and transplantation in a positive environment and provide support to the donor family.[62] From December 2009 to September 2018, 1967 candidates were trained as transplant coordinators through 56 training programmes in India and Bangladesh. In India, the organ donation rate has increased from 0.08 per million population in 2008 to 0.8 per million population in 2017 which is a ten-fold increase.[11][63] The presence of trained transplant coordinators is one of the factors that has contributed to this considerable increase.Template:Citation needed

The foundation partners with The Transplantation Society, Indian Society of Nephrology, the Indian Society of Organ Transplantation, World Health Organization, Transplant Procurement Management (TPM) of Spain to conduct national workshops for transplant coordinators.[64][65][66] Training programme of one week are held along with other similar NGO's like Shatayu and Government organisations like Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee of Maharashtra and Karnataka to train the Transplant coordinators in different cities besides Chennai like Ahmedabad, Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore.[67]

Online organ registry

Registries for organ allocation ensure fair, equitable and transparent distribution of organs and ensure that harvested organs are not wasted for want of recipients. They help to make sure that no one jumps the waiting list queue.[68] In 2005 the Indian Society of Organ Transplantation initiated an Indian Transplant Registry where expertise was provided by technical staff of the MOHAN Foundation.[69][70][71] In 2009 the Cadaver Transplant Programme of the Government of Tamil Nadu used the previous experience of the foundation in creation of a registry for deceased donors and transplantation.[72] Similar registries was created for the Department of Health, Government of Kerala in 2012[73] and the Department of Medical, Health and Family Welfare, Government of Rajasthan in 2014.[74][75] The Government of India also has a plan for national organ registry.[76]

Toll Free Organ Donation Helpline

The Foundation runs a 24-hour organ donation toll-free helpline number in eight languages. This initiative is supported by SBI Foundation.[77][78] On this number the foundation handles not only organ donation enquiries but also coordinates eye donation, body donation and occasionally even organ donation.[79][80]

Overcoming organ shortage

The shortage of organs has been an international phenomenon and India has been no exception.[81] This has led to organ trade and has often stigmatized the noble concept of organ donation.[82][83] However the promotion of the deceased donation programme especially in states like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh has meant more organs and has had some impact on lessening the organ commerce.[84][85][86][87]

References

  1. ↑ NGO Partnership System. Ngo.india.gov.in. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  2. ↑ Partners(2009-10-19). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  3. ↑ Life after death – Our commitment – Tata group. Tata.com(2012-12-31). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  4. ↑ Organ donation by two changes 8 lives. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  5. ↑ Mixing compassion and technology. The Hindu(2001-01-14). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  6. ↑ Expert Talk – Dr Sunil Shroff » DoctorNDTV for the better health of Indians. Doctor.ndtv.com. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  7. ↑ From grief to joy! The inspiring story of a social entrepreneur – Rediff.com Business. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  8. ↑ Evolution of the Transplantation of Human Organ Act and law in India. Transplantation({Template:Year).
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs: The Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994. Health.bih.nic.in. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  10. ↑ Health Dept. Health.bih.nic.in. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Legal and ethical aspects of organ donation and transplantation. Indian Journal of Urology({Template:Year).
  12. ↑ Journal of the Academy of Hospital Administration. Indmedica(1995-02-04). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  13. ↑ Attitudes of health care professionals towards organ donation Edwin AR, Raja D. Indian Journal of Urology({Template:Date).
  14. ↑ Sharing organs, saving lives. The Hindu(2012-01-23). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  15. ↑ Rally to promote organ donation. The Hindu(2012-01-22). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  16. ↑ Making organ donation a movement. The Hindu(2010-08-13). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  17. ↑ Organ donation camp held. The Hindu(2007-08-18). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  18. ↑ Organ donation cards distributed to 150 students. The Hindu(2012-05-03). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  19. ↑ Creating awareness of organ donation. The Hindu(2011-08-29). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  20. ↑ Panacea Biotec Limited: Panacea Biotec Observes Organ Donation Day, Mohan Foundation Organizes Awareness Camp in the Company Premises. 4-Traders(2013-08-06). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  21. ↑ Painting competition sponsored by 'Mohan Foundation' – An NGO who works on the issue of Organ donation – CoolAge. Coolage.in(2013-07-19). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  22. ↑ Inter-collegiate film competition. The Hindu(2010-09-15). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  23. ↑ Over 350 pledge their organs at Shivaji College(2013-09-06). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  24. ↑ Students join hands for the cause of organ donation. The Hindu(2012-01-23).
  25. ↑ 6-year-old boy becomes first cadaver donor in state. The Times of India.
  26. ↑ From dust to dust: a creative journey from ashes to art in Mumbai. The Hindu(2018-02-10). Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  27. ↑ From dust to dust: a creative journey from ashes to art in Mumbai. NYOOOZ. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  28. ↑ human ashes: 'Heart' of human ashes roots for organ donation. The Times of India(26 January 2018). Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  29. ↑ MOHAN Foundation's organ donation awareness campaign titled "Life Before Ashes" sweeps the IAA Olive Crown Awards 2019 with 3 Golds and a Silver. mohanfoundation.org. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 An organ donation awareness event by MOHAN Foundation amidst Sufi music by Nizami Bandhu. Hindustan Times(7 March 2019). Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  31. ↑ What is Recycling and Why Recycle? – Keep Montana Clean and Green…Think Before You Throw. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  32. ↑ Qutub turns green for organ donation, Gandhiok, Jasjeev. The Times of India(19 February 2018). Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  33. ↑ National organ donation day: Mumbai CSMT turns green. Free Press Journal. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  34. ↑ Whats New – SBI Foundation. sbifoundation.in. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  35. ↑ Jaipur Monuments lit with green light to support the cause of organ donation. itnnews.co.in. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  36. ↑ Jaipur Monuments lit with green light to motivate Jaipurites. mohanfoundation.org. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  37. ↑ Amitabh Bachchan reveals he is a pledged organ donor, wears 'green ribbon of its sanctity'. Hindustan Times(2020-09-30). Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  38. ↑ Riteish Deshmukh, Genelia D'Souza Pledge to Donate Their Organs, Actor Gives Up Non-Veg Food, Black Coffee and Aerated Drink for the Cause | 🎥 LatestLY. LatestLY(2020-10-07). Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  39. ↑ You are here: Home > News >. Mid-day.com(2004-09-26). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  40. ↑ MOHAN Foundation launches organ donation programme in Coimbatore. The Hindu(2011-02-14). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  41. ↑ Priyanka pledges to donate her organs. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  42. ↑ Telugu actor Navdeep pledges to be an organ donor at Mohan foundation. Ibnlive.in.com. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  43. ↑ Gautam Gambhir lends a hand to a noble cause. The Hindu(2011-11-11). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  44. ↑ Sheila Dikshit signs organ donation pledge. The Hindu(2012-04-05). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  45. ↑ Amitabh Bachchan reveals he is a pledged organ donor, flaunts the green ribbon. The Economic Times. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  46. ↑ Organ Donor Card. mohanfoundation.org. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
  47. ↑ 'One consent saves 9 lives'. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  48. ↑ Organ donor card launched in Tamil. Expressindia.indianexpress.com(1999-03-29). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  49. ↑ HCLites mobilise one of India's largest organ donation campaigns. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  50. ↑ 13,000 sign up for organ donation(2012-03-28). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  51. ↑ About Organ Donation | I Lead India Youth Brigade – An initiative by The Times of India. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  52. ↑ TOI campaign on organ donation garners 50,000-plus pledges. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  53. ↑ Organ Donor Card. mohanfoundation.org. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  54. ↑ MOHAN (Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network) Foundation – IGNOU Community College. Mfcc.edu.in. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  55. ↑ Doc donating new mindset on organ donation(2012-01-07). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  56. ↑ Transplant Coordinators Course – MOHAN Foundation. courses.mohanfoundation.org. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  57. ↑ Transplant Coordinators Training Programme Testimonials. mohanfoundation.org. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  58. ↑ Training for nurses. The Hindu(2010-02-28). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  59. ↑ Organ donation. The Hindu(2011-11-29). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  60. ↑ Rural family donates son's organs(2010-10-08). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  61. ↑ 'Brain-dead' woman's organs donated on Mother's Day eve. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  62. ↑ Life after death – Our commitment. Tata.com(2012-12-31). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  63. ↑ Did an increase in knowledge and awareness about organ donation improve organ donation rate in India over the past two decades?.
  64. ↑ A Global Presence – National Workshop of Transplant Coordinators. Tts.org. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  65. ↑ National Workshop of transplant coordinators provides guidelines. The Hindu(2013-03-07). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  66. ↑ Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News: Workshop held for transplant coordinators(2010-08-21). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  67. ↑ Better coordination makes organ donation possible(2011-11-29). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  68. ↑ State's transplant registry comes alive. The Hindu(2012-12-24). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  69. ↑ Indian Transplant Registry-www.transplantindia.com. Transplantation Proceedings({Template:Year).
  70. ↑ Indian transplant registry. Indian Journal of Urology({Template:Year).
  71. ↑ Welcome to Indian Transplant Registry. Transplantindia.com. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  72. ↑ Tamil Nadu Organ Sharing Registry – Share Organs Save Lives. Tnos.org(2013-08-31). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  73. ↑ Kerala's transplant registry comes alive. The Hindu(2012-12-24). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  74. ↑ Raj promises to address problems of liver transplant patients. The Times of India(7 December 2014). Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  75. ↑ Online registry for organ donation in state now a reality
  76. ↑ Government of India Ministry of Health and Family Welfare: 2013. Mohfw.nic.in. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  77. ↑ Projects – SBI Foundation. sbifoundation.in. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
  78. ↑ SBI Sustainability Report 2018-19.
  79. ↑ Experiences and Challenges in an NGO run Organ Donation Helpline.
  80. ↑ Publicity of the Helpline Number by Angels of Change – Day 5. mohanfoundation.org. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
  81. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
  82. ↑ WHO | The state of the international organ trade: a provisional picture based on integration of available information. Who.int. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  83. ↑ Organ shortage crisis: Problems and possible solutions. Transplantation Proceedings({Template:Year).
  84. ↑ Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News: Mohan Foundation gets 100th organ donation(2010-11-04). Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  85. ↑ Improvements in Deceased Organ Donation in India. Tts.org. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  86. ↑ Has Tamil Nadu turned the tide on the transplant trade?. The BMJ({Template:Year).
  87. ↑ Organ donation – "attitude and awareness among undergraduates and postgraduates of North-East India". Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care({Template:Year).

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