The undergraduate students of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) took an organ donation pledge on Saturday as an attempt to foster the image of doctors as primary contributors in the field of medicine. Started by the newly-appointed director, Dr MC Mishra, the initiative was a part of the AIIMS’ annual cultural festival Infest.
“The director mentioned the importance of organ donation in the inaugural speech at the Infest and after that students decided that along with blood donation, they should start an organ donation camp as well. We are now trying to get at least 100 students to take the pledge,” said Rajeev Makhuri, senior organ transplant coordinator, Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation (ORBO).
The director feels that in order to spread awareness, the doctors need to lead from the front. He said, “A lot of people say that doctors don’t practice what they preach. We felt we need to drastically change that perception. We need more and more people to do this because it really benefits the medical field.”
For enhancing awareness among medical students, AIIMS has also started a course in brain stem death at the undergraduate level. A pre-final year student, Arvind PR said, “In the US, 70 per cent doctors practice organ donation after brain stem death and in India it is only three-four per cent. This is a good way of initiating a trend that will eventually help save a million lives.”