PGIMER shines at 13th Indian Organ Donation Day
Wins National Award for Chandigarh as ‘UT with highest number of Deceased Donors’
Also PGIMER’s Dr. Ashish Sharma wins ‘Exemplary Performance in Transplant Surgery’ Award
Continuing with the tradition of creating benchmarks, PGIMER has won laurels again by winning the national award for City Beautiful as in the ‘UT with highest number of Deceased Donors’ category for its outstanding contribution towards the promotion of cadaver organ donation at an hi-profile event organized to celebrate the 13th Indian Organ Donation Day by NOTTO (National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organisation) at Manekshaw Hall in New Delhi today.
Adding to the accolades was another milestone as Dr. Ashish Sharma, Prof. & Head, Deptt. of
Renal Transplant Surgery, PGIMER* was also awarded for ‘Exemplary Performance in Transplant Surgery’ award during the event.
Hon’ble Union Health & Family Welfare Minister Dr.Mansukh Mandaviya, graced the event as the Chief Guest. and Prof. S. P. Baghel and Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar, Ministers of State, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare were present on the occasion as the Guests of Honour. Other senior functionaries of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare present in good strength including Dr. Atul Goyal, Director General Health Services, Dr. Anil Kumar, Director NOTTO, Dr. Krishan Kumar, OSD to NOTTO to name a few.
It is the fifth time that the national award has been bestowed for PGIMER Chandigarh for its contribution towards the deceased organ donation programme. Earlier, PGIMER has won four national awards in the Best Hospital category in the deceased donation programme for the year 2015-16, 2016-17, 2018-19, 2019-20. The award for being the UT with highest number of Deceased Donors’ instituted this year, has been won for the first time.
Expressing his happiness at the achievement, Prof.Vivek* Lal, Director PGIMER stated, “It’s an honour to be acknowledged nationally for our contribution towards the promotion of the deceased organ donation programme. With 41 deceased donations impacting 110 lives , over 150 awareness programmes and equally robust registry here in PGIMER , during the year 2022. UT Chandigarh was ahead of all the other union territories in the deceased donation programme. The national awards as ‘UT with highest number of Deceased Donors’ is a reiteration of the fact that we at PGIMER have been able to make a difference in the Union Territory in the field of Organ Donation beyond the confines of our hospital.
The Director further said, “The timing of the award is perfect as PGI has accomplished 300 deceased donations impacting 714 lives since the inception of deceased donation programme in 1996 in PGIMER.
What is really noteworthy is that with 229 out of 300 ie. 76% of the deceased donations impacting 542 lives have been done since the designation of PGIMER as ROTTO in 2016. So ROTTO (North) has contributed immensely in creating an enabling environment through its incessant awareness campaigns which has given a major impetus to deceased donation programme.”
“We feel honoured as well as all the more committed to carry forward the mandate at a faster pace,” added Director PGIMER, Chandigarh.
However, the most emotional moment of the event came when Mr. Dinesh Singh Thakur and Arnav Thakur, husband & son of donor Nisha Thakur (43 years) and Mr. Gurnam Singh and Harmeet Singh, father and brother of donor Abjot (13 years) were felicitated for their brave-heart decision to donate the organs of their deceased dear ones and got a standing ovation from the audience for their gesture. The magnanimous gesture of Organ Donation of their deceased dear ones by both the brave heart families impacted eight lives with the transplantation of heart, liver, kidneys, pancreas and corneas.
With tears brimming in his eyes, Mr. Dinesh Singh Thakur said,“Despite being no more, my wife Nisha Thakur is living on by helping five others continue with their lives, and their parents and all the lives that are being touched as a result”. He aptly summed up the sentiments of Sh. Gurnam Singh, father of donor Abjot, as well.
Acknowledging these awards as the reiteration of the team efforts, *Prof. Vipin Koushal, *Medical Superintendent cum Nodal Officer, ROTTO PGIMER, shared, “We at PGIMER dedicate these awards to all the brave – heart donor families for their un-paralleled benevolence which helped saving hundreds of lives and in fact, sustain the deceased donation programme in PGIMER. The awards are also dedicated to all the multiple teams working at PGIMER who have made the deceased donation programme a success story in PGIMER”.
