Representatives from an Indian NGO Mohan Foundation and NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) met at the House of Lords on 26th Feb 2015 to sign an important Memorandum of Understanding, agreeing to work together to learn from each other's experiences.
NHS Blood and Transplant is the organ donor organisation for the UK, and has agreed to share their expertise in increasing the number of organ donors, matching and allocating donated organs and auditing, analysing and publishing both organ donation and outcomes after transplantation.
In return the MOHAN Foundation will show how NHSBT can better communicate and engage with Black Asian and Minority Ethnic communities in the UK.
Ian Trenholm, Chief Executive of NHS Blood and Transplant said that they were honoured to be approached by the MOHAN Foundation and delighted to share their experience and expertise with them to help to achieve their goals to increase Organ Donation and Transplantation activity in India.
Trenholm added that in the UK, sadly, families from black, Asian and minority ethnic groups are less likely to agree to organ donation going ahead. All organs are matched by blood group and some also by tissue type so patients from the same ethnic group are more likely to be a close match and patients from these communities often wait longer for a transplant.
Trenholm noted that they hope to learn from the Mohan Foundation about how they can raise awareness of organ donation among the British Asian community and make sure all patients get the transplant operations they need.
Sunil Shroff, Managing Trustee of Mohan Foundation, said that improving the donation rate in both the countries is the objective of this partnership.
During the event a 'Organ Donor Optimization' app was launched for intensive care units to help new transplant programmes for optimizing potential organ donors who are brain dead and where the relatives have agreed to donate their organs.
The MoU was signed by Trenholm and Shroff.
