3 brain dead patients give 14 second chance at life Chandigarh’s PGIMER
Expressing his gratitude to the donor families, Dr Vivek Lal, director, PGIMER, said all three donor families from the adjoining states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh are an acme of compassion and benevolence
Organ donation by the braveheart families of three brain dead people gave 10 patients fighting for survival a second chance at life and helped restore the sight of four corneal blind patients over the last fortnight at PGIMER.
The first donor was an eight-year-old boy from Kaithal, Haryana. He was grievously injured in a road accident on September 1 and rushed to a local private hospital, before being shifted to PGIMER the same day. The boy was declared brain dead on September 10. Following the family’s consent, the liver, kidneys and corneas were retrieved from the young donor.
With no matching recipient for liver at PGIMER, the organ was shared with SDM Hospital, Jaipur. The kidneys were transplanted to two patients suffering from renal ailment and the corneas, on transplantation, restored the sight of two corneal blind patients at PGIMER.
In the second case, a 22-year-old youth from Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh, was injured in a road accident on August 31 and was shifted to PGIMER the same day. He was declared brain dead on September 3.
His heart, liver, kidneys and pancreas were retrieved and transplanted to matching recipients at PGIMER, thereby giving second lease of life to four organ failure patients.
The third donor, a 25-year-old youth from Sangrur, Punjab, was hit by a speeding vehicle from behind on August 23. He was referred to PGIMER the next day. However, the youth could not be saved and was declared brain dead on August 26.
The retrieved lungs were shared with a hospital in Gurugram for a matching recipient with the intervention of NOTTO, one harvested kidney was transplanted at PGIMER and the corneas restored the sight of two corneal blind patients.
Expressing his gratitude to the donor families, Dr Vivek Lal, director, PGIMER, said, “All three donor families from the adjoining states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh are an acme of compassion and benevolence. Their noble deed of organ donation is beyond any appreciation, any eulogy. These are the people who make PGIMER an inspiration. We honour the resolute spirit of these families and determined efforts by the entire PGIMER team involved in the process to enable them to fulfil their wish by giving life to others.”
Dr Vipin Koushal, nodal officer, ROTTO PGIMER, detailing this cadaver donation experience said, “Any initiative, however difficult, becomes successful when the community owns it and takes it forward.”
