E-Paper
Organs of 4-year-old brain-dead boy save three at PGIMER
Organs of a brain-dead four-year-old boy at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) have saved the lives of three terminally ill patients
Organs of a brain-dead four-year-old boy at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) have saved the lives of three terminally ill patients.
The patient, Gurjot Singh, a resident of Gehal village, Barnala, Punjab, was injured after falling from a height on April 2. He was first taken to the civil hospital in Barnala, but referred to PGIMER, Chandigarh, where he was declared brain dead on April 9.
“As per regulations, two confirmatory tests with a gap of 12 hours were conducted, after which the family was counselled about the possibility of organ donation. The family considered the option and eventually agreed,” said Dr Vipin Koushal, medical superintendent-cum-head, department of hospital administration, PGIMER, and nodal officer, ROTTO (north).
Having no matching recipient at PGIMER for liver, NOTTO (National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation) was contacted to explore options with other transplant hospitals for matching recipients.
Finally, the liver was allocated to a matching recipient admitted at Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), New Delhi, and sent to the capital by road.
Dr Koushal said, “It was a race against time. A green corridor was created from PGIMER to ILBS with the excellent collaboration of police administration from all districts from Chandigarh to Delhi so that the donated organ could be transported in the shortest possible time.”
Simultaneously, PGIMER’s nephrology department identified several potential recipients for the donated kidneys and pancreas that were transplanted to two matching recipients by the early hours of April 10.
