Frontier Lifeline Hospital Celebrates World Organ Donation Day

Special address on innovative artificial heart device created by Dr. Goran Heller, Chairman – Department of Surgery Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden

Frontier Lifeline Hospital and Dr. K. M. Cherian Heart Foundation celebrated World Organ Donation Day today at Sci-Fi Theater in Chennai Public School, Anna Nagar. ‘Donate Organ, Save Lives – Live beyond your life’ was the theme of this year’s celebration.

The august ceremony begin with lighting of the lamp by Chief Guest H E Mr Sean Kelly, Australian Consul-General, South India, Keynote speaker Dr. Goran Heller, MD, Chairman – Department of Surgery Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden, CEO – Scandinavian Care, Actors Mr. Sarathkumar and Mrs. Radhikar Sarathkumar, Managing Director & CEO – Radan Mediaworks India Ltd in the presence of Dr. K M Cherian, Founder Chairman & CEO – Frontier Lifeline Hospital, Dr. Rajaram Anantharaman, Senior Consultant Cardiologist, Frontier Lifeline Hospital and Dr. N. Madhu Sankar, Senior Consultant – Cardiothoracic Surgery.

To commemorate World Organ Donation day, Frontier Lifeline Hospital organized this special event to raise awareness on Organ donation and pledge to donate them. One can get a new life through Organ transplantation donated by someone.  Organ donation takes healthy organs and tissues from one person for transplantation into another. This year’s celebration at FLL is also to stress the crying need for organ donation, propagated by Dr. K. M. Cherian since many years. The event commenced with a special prayer song by Playback Singer Ms. Saranya Srinivasan, followed by Dr. N. Madhu Sankar’s welcome address.

Delivering the Presidential Address and speaking on the need of Organ donation, Dr. K. M. Cherian, Founder Chairman & CEO, Frontier Lifeline Hospital, said, “Thousands have lost their lives because of the lack of a suitable organ donor. To put an end to such avoidable trauma, we at Frontier Lifeline Hospital organized this gathering to build awareness and encourage individuals to come forward donate for a cause. I would like to thank the Chief Guest honorable H E Mr Sean Kelly, Dr Goran, Actors Sarathkumar and Radhika Sarathkumar, Organ donor families and recipients for taking out your valuable time and coming forward to support this noble cause. I also take this opportunity to thank the Chennai Public School principal, staff and students for their support.”

Addressing the gathering, Chief Guest H.E. Mr. Sean Kelly, said, “It gives me immense pleasure to be a part of this celebration. This day is not just about celebration, but also a day for every one of us to come forward and take pledge to donate organs. Congratulations to Dr. Cherian and his team for organizing a grand event for a noble cause.”

One of the key highlight of the program was Dr. Goran Heller’s keynote address on his creation of artificial heart device. Dr. Goran serves as the Chairman – Department of Surgery Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden and CEO of Scandinavian Care. Karolinska Institute is one of the reputed universities in the world and pioneer in many aspects including the origination of the Noble prize. Dr. Goran Heller, is also a Professor of Cardio Vascular Surgeon at the Karolinska Institute and has discovered a new artificial heart that is different from other mechanical heart devices manufactured by USA and Germany. So far only single chamber is available in mechanical heart device, but Dr. Goran has invented the artificial device using 4 chamber.

Appreciating the effort taken by Dr. Cherian and his team at FLL, Actors Mr. Sarathkumar and Ms. Radhika Sarathkumar pledged to donate organs and signed up the organ donation cards.

To rise additional awareness on the organ donation, the ceremony was graced by Doctor Couple S. Ashokan and Pushpanjali who donated the organs of their son Hitendran after he died in a road accident on September 2008. Mr. Bhavani Shankar, a heart transplant recipient,  along with other Heart & Lung Transplant patients, donor families along with staffs from the hospitals, the students from Frontier Mediville, members and students from Chennai Public School also participated and extended their support for the cause. Recipients thanked donor families for their courage, compassion and willingness to donate in the midst of tragedy.

The program came to an end by a special musical show performed by Heart Transplant recipient Ms. Reena Raju and her husband Mr. Raju. Music Director Mr. S. A. Rajkumar, Playback singers – V.V. Prasanna, Tippu, Harini Tippu and Reema Swarnalatha added further color by their extraordinary performance. Over all the event was a grand success.