#95 Organ donation with Dr Radha Sundaram

In this episode it is my pleasure with Dr Radha Sundaram an NHS consultant in intensive care for the last 16 years in Scotland. Radha is an advocate for organ donation and improving awareness amongst our diverse society. She has had a long-standing interest in end of life care and has been responsible for the guidelines in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Radha also does pro bono work for a charity called Pallium in India which was described in the Lancet as model for end of life care and for the Mohan Foundation which is India’s largest organ donation advocacy organisation

We talk about Radha’s work in supporting organ donation in a diverse and multi ethnic society and cultural perspectives that can translate into organ donation. I learn about PALLIUM and the Mohan Foundation and current work in India around Advance Care Planning.

Key messages from our discussion

• We talk about the the close working between intensivists and palliative care

• We talk about the different type of donation possible eg solid organs, tissues, heart valves and stem cells

• Radha describes creating legacy through organ donation

• The importance of talking about Organ Donation is highlighted

• The opt out organ donation law has helped to formalise the process of of donation

• 25% of people waiting for a transplant are in the black and ethnic minority group yet the percentage of people who donate from black and ethnic minority groups is less than 7%. 

• Increasing the diversity of the donor pool is important

• The importance of understanding the differences between people and not making assumptions is highlighted and explored 

• We explore the concept of cultural competence and recognising one size doesn’t fit all

• We explore the framework for Advance Care Planning and palliative care in India

• Radha explains advocacy of Palliative Care in India

Resource

• Find out about the Mohan Foundation 

• Find out about Pallium India

• Organ donation information Register your decision  About your choices on the NHS Organ Donor Register 

• Read Organ donation: As an intensive care consultant who benefited from transplants, I hope opt-out system leads to a shift in attitudes – Dr Radha Sundaram 

• Access Adapting to a changing world: equity, sustainability and wellbeing for all by Dr Radha Sundaram

• Find out more about NHS Blood and Transplant 

• Find out more about Max and Keira's Law

Podcasts highlighted in this episode

• Organ Donation: hope and transition after an unexpected death with Vicki Caldwell, mother of organ donor Fee

• The Safari Concept with Dr. Christian Ntizimira

• Using tender conversations in Advance Care Planning with Dr Kathryn Mannix

Bio: 

Dr Radha Sundaram MBBS MRCP FRCA DICM FFICM is a Consultant in Intensive Care and

Anaesthetics at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley . Having qualified in Madras Medical College India, she did her postgraduate medical, anaesthetic and intensive care training in Liverpool, Oxford and Glasgow. She has been the Regional Advisor for training in ICM in Scotland until April 2023 and is currently the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Lead for the University of Glasgow medical school.She is a Clinical Lead for Organ Donation in Scotland for Diversity and Inclusion with NHS Blood and Transplant. She is a Royal College of Anaesthetists Examiner for the FFICM examination .

Over the last twelve years , she has worked with NHSBT , Scottish Government and Kidney Research UK to improve education and awareness around organ donation in the multi ethnic communities in Scotland. She has collaborated with a working group in India to develop India s first guidelines on donation after circulatory death which was published in the Indian Journal of Transplantation and Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine in 2022 . She is currently collaborating with Mohan Foundation , India s largest organ donation advocacy organisation ( Non Governmental Organisation) to improve our shared understanding around communication approaches at end of life and around sensitive but crucial subjects like organ donation.She is currently working with various groups in the UK to improve death literacy and normalise the inclusion of organ donation into routine end of life conversations. She has been an invited speaker at international meetings on organ donation and end of life care. Her interests include End of Life care, Renal Replacement Therapy and Organ Donation.