First multiple organ donation of year at AIIMS

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences’ (AIIMS) Trauma Centre received its first organ donation of the year when Usha Chaddha agreed to donate the organs of her husband Ravi Chaddha, 64, who died on Wednesday morning.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences’ (AIIMS) Trauma Centre received its first organ donation of the year when Usha Chaddha agreed to donate the organs of her husband Ravi Chaddha, 64, who died on Wednesday morning.

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And by Thursday night, two people at AIIMS, including a 13-year-old boy, had got his kidneys and an army personnel at the Army Research and Referral (R&R) Hospital, Delhi, had received his liver.

His heart valves and corneas have been preserved till matching recipients are found.

A resident of west Delhi’s Uttam Nagar area, Chaddha was sustained severe head injuries after being hit by a vehicle January 15 evening.

“We tried all resuscitative measures, but by the 16th it appeared that his brain was not functioning,” said Dr MC Misra, chief of AIIMS Trauma Centre.

On January 18, neurosurgeons at the trauma centre had declared Chaddha brain dead.

“As is the protocol, we immediately informed our organ retrieval unit, ORBO, and the counsellors began talking to the family. It took them a day, but the women, his daughters and sisters were brave enough to give their consent,” said Dr Misra.

A team from AIIMS and R&R Hospitals started organ procurement by 6 pm on Wednesday, and by 4am on Thursday, the organs were successfully implanted in all the three.

The Trauma Centre gets more than 100 brain dead cases in a year, out of which not more than 10 families agree to donate organs.

Out of one lakh renal failure cases, only about 3,500 people get a kidney.

And only 0.1% of the required liver transplants are done in a year in India.

“It’s a good beginning and we hope more people will get inspired to donate organs and meet the huge demand-supply gap,” said Dr Misra.