E-Paper
Green corridor helps PGI patient in Chandigarh get kidney from brain-dead Kangra donor
A green corridor was created from PGI to Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, to retrieve the donated organs in the shortest possible time after the blood samples sent from Kangra via air crossmatched
It was a race against time, as a team from PGIMER, Chandigarh, travelled 222km to retrieve kidneys from a brain dead patient in Tanda, Himachal Pradesh, during the day and returned to complete the transplant at night, saving a terminally ill patient’s life.
A green corridor was created from PGIMER to Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College (RPGMC), Tanda, to retrieve the donated organs in the shortest possible time after the blood samples sent from Kangra via air crossmatched.
The donor patient, Vishal, 18, a resident of Kangra district, Himachal Pradesh, was declared brain dead at RPGMC on Saturday after suffering injuries in a road accident on March 10.
After his family’s consent, Dr Rakesh Chauhan from the college got in touch with ROTTO (north), that allocated the donor’s kidneys to PGIMER.
As the bloodsamples matched, PGIMER immediately got into action and a team led Dr Ashish Sharma, head, renal transplant surgery, left for Tanda at 10.30 am on Saturday for the retrieval process.
After a 150-minute retrieval that started around 3 pm, two kidneys and two corneas were harvested from the donor’s body. The PGIMER team returned via the green corridor by 9 pm in just three hours 40 minutes and completed the kidney transplantation through the night.
The corneas were allocated to corneal blind patients at the Tanda college itself.
Dr Sharma, said, “It is very gratifying that we could translate the noble wish of the family into reality. The best matching recipient, a 39-year-old man from Karnal, Haryana, admitted at PGIMER, got the second lease of life with the generous gesture of the donor family. The second kidney, due to smaller size, was not found transplantable.”
PGIMER director Dr Surjit Singh said, “We at PGIMER are always there for back-end support, but medical colleges and hospitals across the region have to take the first step. We highly commend RPGMC, Tanda, for taking this huge initiative. Their exemplary act will give an impetus to the deceased organ donation programme and save precious lives, otherwise lost due to lack of organs.”
Dr Vipin Koushal, medical superintendent, PGIMER, and nodal officer, ROTTO (north), further said, “Our whole-hearted appreciation for Shashi from Kangra airport for his all out-efforts for speedy transport of the blood samples for crossmatching, which saved precious time. Lt Cdr (Dr) Sumit Kumar Sangat from PGIMER’s hospital administration and Dr Arvind Rana from RPGMC, Tanda, ensured perfect coordination for the green corridor, making it seamless.”
