A Webinar was organised by Param Shakti Peeth of UK (PSP) and Hindu Forum of Britain (HFB) with support from the Jain Hindu Organ Donation (JHOD) Steering Group.
The webinar started with a healing shloka by the young Arya Dwivedi. The aim of the webinar was to discuss the data and the law around organ donation as well as the community wide impact of Covid -19 on Organ Donation, to assess the effectiveness of campaigning for organ donation, to hear personal stories of donors, to talk about myths and facts associated with organ donation and to discuss how the Hindu community can bring about better awareness of organ donation and ultimately a change the organ availability dynamics. The tapestry of conversations and initiatives must change to address attitudes to organ donation.
In a letter of support for the event addressed to Dr Harsha Jani, Lord Jitesh Gadhia congratulated the organisers for taking the initiative to hold the event and stated that donation is the greatest gift; an act of selfless service and a great tradition which is an integral part of the Hindu faith.
The Guest speakers Kirit Modi, Chair of JHOD steering group and Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP for Chipping Barnet agreed that there is an urgent need to improve BAME data on organ donation and transplantation. Mr Modi suggested that there is scope for parliamentarians to urge the NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) and hospitals to work to improve BAME organ donation and transplantation data collection, analysis and publication.
Latest report of Organ Donation for 2019/20 shows that 40 Asian donors were deceased donors and 84 donors were living donors. Mr Modi informed that whilst NHSBT publishes annual report on BAME data on organ donation, it reports most of the data under the general classification of Asian and Black and does not report on the religion of donors and recipients. It was agreed that better strategies to encourage organ donation can be developed and implemented if we foster a better understanding of the attitudes to donation and the extent of donations amongst different faiths and BAME communities. Effectiveness of funding initiatives such as Community Investment Scheme and Living Transplant Initiative can only be analysed and appropriately targeted if we have comprehensive national and/or regional data by religion and granular data by ethnicity. Progress on this important matter must be monitored and brought to a satisfactory conclusion and parliamentarians have an important role in working with Hindu and Jain communities to deliver an effective approach to organ donation.
A section of the Webinar was dedicated to hearing personal recollections of Jay and Sina Patel when they had to make a decision to donate three-and-a-half-year-old Aari’s organs. Jay and Sina stated that, “As a Hindu, the decision to donate came naturally to us. It was clear, we couldn’t save our son Aari but Aari would be able to save lives.” Family conversations were a vital component of Jay and Sina arriving to a decision to donate little Aari’s organs.
Truptiben Patel, President of HFB recalled the long-standing involvement of the HFB with raising awareness of organ donation in the communities from 2008 and that there was an official launch of organ donation in 2011 with creation of a video to raise awareness. She urged temples, communities and individuals to promote organ donation initiatives during Navratri, Durga Pooja and Diwali.
The webinar hosted by Dr Harsha Jani was given technical support by Mr Puneet Dwivedi Vice President of the HFB Scottish Chapter and the concluding prayers were conducted by Dr Harsha Shukla MBE, Vice-President North HFB.
