A single donor can save 8 lives, deceased donor programme need of hour

Bhubaneswar, Nov 26: As many as 17 people die each day waiting for organ transplant. In every 10 minutes, another person is added to the transplant waiting list. A single donor can save 8 lives and a deceased donor programme is need of the hour, said experts of national repute attending the Continued Medical Education (CME) and workshop on “Awareness on Organ Donation” organized by Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, AIIMS Bhubaneswar.   Apart from raising awareness among the public, the eminent speakers from different fields of Organ Transplant highlighted the other aspects like choosing appropriate donor and recipient, organ allocation, need of grief counselling and comprehensive quality clinical care can only further expedite the process of organ transplant in the country as well as in Odisha. Declaring the brainstem death in ICU setups, the Neuro Physicians and Critical Care providers play a pivotal role, said Prof Subrat Acharya, President, AIIMS Bhubaneswar. The one-day workshop organized at AIIMS in association with National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organisation(NOTTO) was attended by Prof. Y. K. Chawla, Chairman SSC AIIMS Bhubaneswar and Ex-Director, PGIMER, Chandigarh, Commissioner of Police Saumendra Kumar Priyadarshi, Dr. Krishan Kumar, Director, NOTTO, GOI, Prof. Vipin Kaushal, Nodal officer, ROTTO, PGIMER, Chandigarh, Prof. Viniyendra Pamecha, Head, Liver Transplantation, ILBS, New Delhi, Dr. Dinesh Kumar Negi, Legal expert, Hindurao Hospital, Delhi, Prof. Deepak Kumar Gupta, JPNA Trauma Centre, AIIMS New Delhi, Dr. Ashish Kumar Sahoo, Dr.Sunil Shroff, Mrs. Pallavi Kumari, Dr. Archana Kumari. AIIMS Bhubaneswar Executive Director Prof. Ashutosh Biswas assured to extend all support for establishing different transplant services in the national institute. Medical Superintendent Prof. S N Mohanty, DEAN Dr. P R Mohapatra, DDA Rashmi Ranjan Sethy also participated in the workshop. The workshop and CME witnessed activity based programmes which aimed to create awareness about organ donation and transplantation which is certainly the need of the hour. The CME involved intensivists, anesthesiologist, neurosurgeon, neurologist, trauma and emergency physician, surgeons, forensic medicine, community medicine etc. Pioneer in Liver Transplant surgery in public sector Prof. Viniyendra Pamecha along with Prof. Dipesh Kenwar, Prof. Vipin Kaushal felicitated for their outstanding work in the sector. Similarly, liver transplant recipient Uma Acharya shared her experience and appealed for organ transplantation. Her life changing story was heart touching and motivating for all to pledge for organ transplantation. Dr. Bramhdatta Pattnaik, Assistant Professor, Surgical Gastroenterology AIIMS Bhubaneswar conveyed thanks to all and informed about the walkathon to be held on Sunday (27th Nov) by AIIMS for creating awareness.