Corporates walk the talk for organ donation

It is no longer just doctors and NGOs, but even

corporate houses

that have begun spreading the altruistic message of organ donation.

The employee calendar in many companies now boasts of awareness talks, special drives to sign donor pledges or awareness walks and seminars. Some corporate houses have adopted organ donation programmes in public hospitals and provide money towards salaries of transplant coordinators, who perform the most difficult task of counselling families to donate organs soon after their loved one has been declared brain dead in a hospital ICU.

Consider Mohan Foundation, an NGO that has been working in the field of organ donation for over a decade, which has been invited by 20 companies in and around Mumbai during 2018 to talk about the noble cause to their employees. “We get a lot of enquiries and invites during the Times Organ Donation Drive in the July-August period, as well as during the Joy of Giving week,” says Jaya Jairam of Mohan Foundation.

The organ donation cause in India could do with a ‘push’. India has one of the lowest organ donation rates in the world at 0.5 donor per million population, and every bit to spread awareness—be it among schoolchildren or corporate houses—helps.

Corporate bigwigs say the cause has found support among many of their employees. Sudeep Kumar from the Dalmia Group said the company supported Mohan Foundation in various ways to spread the organ donation message. and had recently helped the NGO conduct a fundraising event. “We also hold talks about the cause for our employees on a regular basis and encourage them to sign up donor pledges,” Kumar adds.

Rajesh Iyer from Worley Parsons, a company specialising in chemical, energy and resources, says, “While we are not directly involved with creating awareness about organ donation, we donate money towards payment of salaries of coordinators who talk to relatives when a patient is declared brain dead in government hospitals.”

Pranav Gupta from InfoAnalytica, a marketing consulting firm, says that his company has a CSR wing dedicated for this cause and also organizes awareness drives for its employees so that they can spread the word. “We also hold awareness sessions for those interested in the cause,” says Gupta, adding that his firm had organized a walk and seminar on the subject last August.

The Toshniwal Group of companies has been involved in spreading awareness about organ donation for many years, says its CEO Rohit Toshniwal. “We use the most tried and tested tool, that is, word of mouth to spread the message. We have also been involved in a few road shows and concerts to spread awareness about organ donation.”