‘Awareness needed to deal with stigma attached to organ donation’

Five-day training session for transplant coordinators begins

For a cause: Satyavara Prasad, Chief Transplant Coordinator of Jeevandan, speaking at a training programme in Visakhapatnam on Monday.

Highlighting the need for creating more awareness on organ donation which still has social stigma attached, experts have said that the transplant coordinators play a vital role to motivate the family members and relatives of brain-dead persons so that the vital organs can be harvested.

Speaking at a five-day training programme for transplant coordinators being organised jointly by Jeevandan, Andhra Pradesh, in association with Mohan Foundation, at the Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) here on Monday, Dr. K. Satyavara Prasad, Chief Transplant Coordinator of Jeevandan, A.P., said that with the rise in the cases of organ failure, organ transplantation was playing an important role in saving lives.

Apart from Andhra Pradesh, delegates from Assam, West Bengal, Odisha and Tamil Nadu are participating in the programme.

Dr. Satyavara Prasad, who is also Director of the VIMS, threw light the typology of organ transplantation. “Live transplant relates to the donation of vital organs by a family member or relative of patients, while and cadaver transplant deals with harvesting of heart, lungs and other organs of brain-dead persons.

Reiterating prior consent of the family members of donors is paramount, Dr. Satyavara Prasad said harvested organs would be allocated to patients by the Appropriate Authority for Cadaver Transplantation (AACT).

Modalities

“The list of prospective recipients would be available on the NIC website which is hosted by the Vijayawada head office of Jeevandan. The recipients need to register themselves at the Organ Transplantation Centre (OTC) in the respective regions. A transplantation specialist needs to certify the eligibility of the recipient, based on which a seniority list is prepared for the State,” said Dr. Satyavara Prasad, adding that the process leaves no scope for corruption.

Speaking at the programme, Mohan Foundation director Lalitha Raghuram said it was a difficult task for transplant coordinators to approach the family members of a brain-dead person and convince them on organ donation. “Such training programmes help the coordinators motivate the family members to contribute to the noble cause,” she said.

This is the 66th national training programme to be organised by Mohan Foundation. “In total, 2,359 transplant coordinators have been trained across the country. The foundation is motivating the family members of brain-dead patients at government hospitals in Tamil Nadu and it can be replicated in State,” Ms. Lalitha Raghuram said.