ORGAN India launches Organ & Whole Body Donation Awareness campaign 2016 – 2017

May 16, 2017, New Delhi – The Honourable Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Mr. JP Nadda launched a Body Donation Directory made by the Organ Receiving & Giving Awareness Network, ORGAN India, an initiative of the NGO, Parashar Foundation recently at Lady Hardinge Medical College. Trustees of Parashar Foundation Mrs. Kirti Parashar and Ms. Anika Parashar, Chief Executive Officer of ORGAN India Ms. Sunayana Singh, and Special Consultant Ms. Eeda Gujral Chopra were all present to launch the Directory.

ORGAN India, has been strenuously contributing for the cause of organ and body donation. An online directory for Body Donation was launched which is now live at www.organindia.org. It will guide the general public exclusively regarding details of medical colleges facilitating voluntary body donation across every State in India.

In the past year ORGAN India received a lot of calls on Help lines from all over India from people who wanted to know where they could pledge their bodies for donation after their deaths. ORGAN India decided to create a similar Directory for body Donation to facilitate Body Donation in India. So for the past 6 months, data has been gathered from all States in India where body donation is possible. The Directory is available on the website www.organindia.org and any person in any State in India can go to the Directory, choose the state they want information for, choose the city in that state for which they want the information, and they will get a drop down menu of all Medical Institutions or NGO’s  in their chosen city where they can pledge or donate their bodies – along with the names, phone numbers and email id’s of the exact people to call. It’s extremely simple to operate, it cuts down the time and effort it would take for any individual to get this information from a Medical Institution, and is easily available on the website. With a click of a few buttons, anyone in India will have access to this information, which otherwise is difficult to obtain.

It has taken the ORGAN India team months of extremely hard work – lots of phone calls, lots of waiting, lots of explaining – in order to create this directory. We hope that it will go a long way in helping simplifying the noble act of body donation for people across India, leading to many more bodies being available for donation. Please do spread the awareness about this directory in any way that you can so that everyone can know about this service that ORGAN India is providing.

The Body Donation Directory was launched by Honorable Union Health Minister Shri JP Nadda in the presence of Director Lady Harding Medical College Dr. Jagdish Chandra, Mr. Alok Kumar, President DadhichiDehDaanSamiti and other dignitaries at the Organ &Whole Body Donation Awareness Campaign 2016-2017 on 12th May 2017 held by Lady Hardinge Medical College and DadhichiDehDaanSamiti.

The next of kin of body donors,   registered body donors, and volunteers will were also felicitated as a token of gratitude by the institute. LHMC also released an innovative publication titled ‘Tribute to a Silent Teacher – The Human Body’ which showcases short stories narrated by undergraduate medical students based on their interactions with Next of Kin of whole body donors associated with the department of Anatomy in the year 2016 – 2017. These are also compiled in the form of short documentaries which will serve to educate and inspire the society at large. This segment designed for students will train them in empathy & compassion as an essence in making of an Ideal Doctor who can provide treatment with kindness. The Module is first of its kind in India which can enhance skills of young doctors.

The institute also announced its blog – organandbodydonation.com dedicated to the activities related to organ & tissue donation with the aim to reach out to a larger community through a digital platform.

According to Ms. Sunayana Singh, Co-Founder & CEO, ORGAN India, “We were extremely happy to have the Honorable Health Minister launch our body donation Directory. We hope that it will help people across India to be able to donate their bodies with ease. The Parashar Foundation is also extremely thankful to Lady Hardinge Medical College and Dr. Jagdish Chandra for involving us in their wonderful Campaign.”