In a first for Maharashtra, Chembur family donates relative’s bones

Donated bones are usually used for orthopaedic surgeries and dental procedures

The family of a Chembur resident who was declared brain dead agreed to donate all his organs and his hip and rib bones too, marking Maharashtra’s first cadaver bone donation.

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Donated bones are usually used for orthopaedic surgeries and dental procedures.

The 64-year-old donor Vinayak Mhaske’s organs were retrieved at Sion Hospital after the family came forward. “I had read about cadaver donations. So when the doctors told us he was brain dead, I asked the family if they were willing to donate,” said Uttam Ambore, Mhaske’s son-in-law.

Mhaske was admitted to a private hospital in Chembur after he fell unconscious on February 11. After treating him for a week, doctors declared him brain dead.

“The Chembur hospital is not recognised to retrieve organs, so the family allowed us to shift the donor to Sion Hospital,” said an official from the Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee ( ZTCC), the government agency that allocates organs.

“This is the first time we have received bones from a donor. Bones, like corneas, can be donated even after cardiac death,” said Bharat Solanki, the transplant coordinator at the Tata Memorial Centre at Parel, which has a bone and tissue bank.