A measure of how popular organ donation has become in the State and city is how it has entered the technology zone – personal technology, mobile phones and social media.
It cannot be dismissed as mere coincidence that two mobile apps for organ donation have been launched this week in Chennai. Mohan Foundation’s e-donor app was launched on Sunday. Initially on the Android platform, and subsequently, on iOS, this app, gives you a notification that you are a donor after you have signed up to donate organs. Organs can be harvested in the event of brain death of the donor.
“Once you register, a red heart symbol will be displayed prominently on the mobile phone, indicating that you are a donor,” says Sunil Shroff of Mohan Foundation. That’s even better than wearing your heart on your sleeve – wearing it on your phone.
Eventually, he says, a list of the hospitals where both eyes and other organs are harvested and transplanted will be available on the app, soon to be downloaded from the Apple and Google Play stores.
Vasan Eye Care is now taking eye donation formally on to social media platforms. Anand Parthasarathy, medical director, Vasan Eye Care, says the idea is to make organ donation more popular.
Apart from the hospital’s website, there is now an option to log on to Facebook and pledge your corneas.
“There is a huge gap between demand and the number of corneas that are available today,” Dr. Parthasarthy explains. Taking the campaign onto FB will be the ideal way to take it to a larger young group that uses social media extensively, and may not be aware of organ donation yet.
Once someone pledges eyes online, the hospital will send a card to the donor.
When the eyes are ready to be donated, relatives can call the hotline: 044-43400000
