330.9: Organ donations made possible through a toll-free information service – the new facet of an Organ Donation Helpline in India.

Abstract

Background: In 2012 MOHAN Foundation initiated a toll-free helpline facility to answer questions related to organ donation. The service, available 24/7 in 8 Indian languages, manned by trained counselors, receives close to 1200 calls every month. The most frequently asked questions are: - What is organ donation and how can one donate? - How can an organ be obtained? - How can I buy/sell a kidney? Alongside such calls, over the years, the helpline has also started receiving calls from family members expressing their wish to donate the organs/tissues of their deceased relatives. This case study analyses this unexpected outcome and how it could benefit the organ donation scenario. Methods: The period of the study was from January 2017 to December 2018 when a new reporting system was added to the helpline log. An algorithm that allows the counselor to communicate the information received from a caller to a regional coordinator and help the family member in fulfilling their objective was designed. A list of eye banks, skins banks and bone banks was made available to the counselors for reference. Likewise, contact information of medical colleges accepting voluntary body donations were compiled. The counselors were instructed to make note of such calls and write a brief report and the outcome. Follow-up calls were made to gather additional information when required. Results: In 2017, the helpline was instrumental in making 12 cases of donations possible. Two of these were multi-organ DBD and 10 were successful tissue donations. 2018 witnessed 15 donations, of which 13 were tissue donations and the other two, multi-organ DBD. In the organ donation cases, the calls were from the relatives of patients who were admitted in a hospital. The calls were made for seeking further clarifications and possible apprehension about brain stem death, procedures within hospitals, possible delays in handing over the body and the process of organ allocation. Once they were convinced that the hospitals were following approved protocols, consent for donation was given. In case of tissue donations, corneal donation was the most common. In most instances the families had already decided and wished to donate and wanted to know how to proceed further. This outcome of helpline has contributed significantly to the pool of solid organs and tissues. This required training the helpline counselors more rigorously and also led to design of an ‘Organ Donation Helpline App’. It is indeed a positive outcome of the information service that was initiated more than 5 years ago. There is also a positive feel-good factor among the counselors when they report such successful donations and encourages them to go the extra mile to make a difference. Conclusions: The helpline provides information about organ donation and clears misconceptions, and also coordinates actual organ donations. It is indeed a useful tool that has scope for great enhancements to improve the donation rates in a country. State Bank of India Foundation.