ORGAN India was awareness partner with the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) at a very successful conference on “Organ Donation and Transplantation- Reality vs Legality” held at PHD house on April 27, 2022. This conference was aimed at initiating a discussion on legal, ethical and certification challenges faced in the field of organ donation and transplant. Well-known names in the field of transplant formed a panel and shared their expertise with audience of more than 200 which included professionals from the transplant community, donors, transplant recipients, NGOs, and some school children. Dr. Deep Goel, Co- Co-Chair of Hospitals & Diagnostics Committee moderated the panel discussion. The panelists included Dr. Anil Kumar, Additional DDG, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India – National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) who highlighted that hospital doctors face problem in identifying and certifying brain stem death in north India. In law, provisions are mentioned but practically not implemented. Dr. Sameer Gupta, Co-Chair of Hospitals & Diagnostics Committee, Dr. Harsha Jauhari, Renal Transplantation Surgeon, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Dr. Abhideep Chaudhary, Senior Director & HOD, HPB Surgery & Liver Transplantation, BLK- MAX Super Speciality Hospital, Dr. Anil Aggarwal, Director Professor and Head, Gastrointestinal Surgery, G B Pant Hospital, Dr. Suresh Rao KG, Co-Director, Institute of Heart & Lung Transplantation, MGM Hospital, Chennai, and Shri. Saurabh Sanyal, Secretary General, PHDCCI.
The panel discussion was extremely engaging and was followed by some donors, recipients and NGOs in the audience chronicling their experiences and putting forth their views to the panel who interacted with them with enthusiasm and empathy. Mr. Mandan Mohan Juneja, father of organ Anmol Juneja who saved and improved the life of 34 people, and heart recipient Karhun Nanda shared their experience with the audience and were given standing ovations. Towards the end Sunayana Singh CEO ORGAN India spoke about the upcoming about World Transplant Games and asked for all stakeholders to come together to make it a success.