Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit signed a pledge board on organ donation at an event held in the national capital on Wednesday by MOHAN Foundation (Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network), a not-for-profit organisation working to create awareness. Several leading doctors also joined her in the pledge.
MOHAN Foundation said every year, close to six lakh people die in India due to organ failure. On the other hand, with 70 per cent of India's 1.4 lakh accident victims diagnosed as brain dead annually, the country has 80,000 potential organ donors. Yet, organs from only about 120 are retrieved, making the percentage of cadaver donations a dismal 0.08 per million population.
At the fundraiser event, the trailer from Anand Gandhi's latest award winning film, 'The Ship of Theses' was screened. The film focuses on the importance of organ donation. Leading doctors from Delhi’s hospitals showed solidarity by singing popular Bollywood numbers from the 60s and 70s including Jaaiye aap kahan jaayenge , Ek ladki bheegi bhaagi si to applause.
Among the doctors present were Dr.Rana, Director, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Dr.Samiran Nundy, Chairman, Surgical Gastro and Liver Transplant, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Prof. Anupam Sibal, Group Medical Director, Apollo Hospitals Group, Dr. A.S.Soin Chief Liver Transplant & Hepatobiliary Surgeon, Chairman, Institute of Liver Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine, Medanta – The Medicity, Dr.Sanjeev Kanoria from Advina Healthcare, UK, Dr,Vijay Kher, Senior Nephrologist, Medanta – The Medicity.
Other guests who signed the donor card included Ashok Alexander, Country Head, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Dr Sunil Shroff, Managing Trustee of MOHAN Foundation, said such events sensitised people to important causes and helped build public opinion in favour of organ donation.
MOHAN Foundation said its representative Pallavi Kumar could be contacted on mobile phone: 9818806706 and via email - pallavi@mohanfoundation.org
