KOCHI: Setting an example in organ donation, all adult members of the Little Flower Church have signed consent letters for donating organs after death.
The year-long campaign initiated by parish priest Fr Sebastian Moonnukootunkal and committee members bore fruit, with more than 3,000 members submitting consent letters for retrieving organs after death.
“The Little Flower parish at Pottakuzhy, Kaloor, comprises 1,400 families.
The number of faithful is between 5,000 and 6,000, of which, the number of adults comes over 3,000. We have so far received around 3,000 consent letters,” Fr Moonnukootunkal said.
“The organ donation campaign was supported by the Society for Organ Retrieval and Transplantation (SORT) and the Lourdes Hospital. Initially, the people were reluctant. Then, we carried out an intensive awareness programme with the help experts in the medical field. Many people had a misconception that the face would be deformed if eyes are retrieved. Such doubts were cleared. There are people who have expressed willingness to donate even the whole body for medical education,” he said. As part of the campaign, a leaflet titled ‘Marana Sesham Avayavangal Mannino Manushyano?’ was also published and circulated among the parish members.
Mainly, the eyes, liver, kidneys and skin will be retrieved from the donors. While eyes can be retrieved after death, the other organs can be donated only in cases where brain death is confirmed.
Fr Moonnukootunkal and team are now making efforts to ensure the continuity of the campaign and the scheme.
“We are just facilitating organ donation. However, we have to ensure that organs are donated by those who have signed the consent letter. Some people, who express willingness to donate organs at one stage, rethink later. So, we have to ensure that they stick to their original decision. A coordinator will be deputed in all family units to take care of organ retrieval,” he added.
Priests under the Archdiocese of Verapoly had hit headlines recently by expressing willingness to donate organs. People of three parishes under the Archdiocese have already signed consent letters, while the campaign is in progress in the other parishes.