Family donates brain-dead son’s organs, give new lease of life to 3

PUNE: Family of a 19-year-old boy who was declared brain-dead following an accident donated his vital organs, including two kidneys and a liver, to benefit three patients in Pune and Nashik.

The boy had met with an accident while riding his motorcycle without wearing a helmet on May 26. He was rushed to the Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital (ABMH) where he was admitted in emergency ward for immediate treatment.

Brother to a young visually impaired girl and only son of his parents, the boy was declared brain-dead by doctors the following day.

His parents came to terms with the situation and expressed their willingness for organ donation soon after. The procedure of organ retrieval was conducted by a team of doctors at ABMH. His liver and two kidneys were transplanted into three patients suffering from end-stage liver and kidney diseases.

One kidneys was donated to a patient at ABMH where the transplant was done immediately. His other kidney was sent to a patient in Nashik while his liver was donated to a patient at Ruby Hall.

ABMH’s intensive care physician Urvi Shukla said, “The process of declaring a patient brain-dead to broaching the subject of organ donation with the family is a delicate issue, fraught with emotions and uncertainties. The extreme grief of losing a dear one and yet coming forward for the common cause of doing good for the humanity is a courageous act by the family. The society is gradually getting sensitized to the concept of brain stem death and organ donation.” She went on to add that the deceased donor programme is becoming a reality because of such selfless people.

ABMH, which was accredited for organ retrieval and kidney transplants in 2007, witnessed a similar situation in March 2017 when the wife of a military veteran was declared brain-dead. Apart from liver and kidney, her heart was also retrieved and successfully transplanted into a recipient in Mumbai.

Rekha Dubey, chief executive officer of ABMH attributed this to proper counselling. “Since January 2016, the hospital witnessed five organ donations as a result of expert counselling of the families of prospective donors,” Dubey said.