Generous Heart Saves Four Lives In Delhi

Organs from a 45 year of accident victim were used to save multiple lives. The victim who had sustained head injuries from a road accident near Chattarpur was brought in to Fortis Hospital in Vasant Kunj. He could not be revived and was declared brain-dead despite best efforts by the neurosurgery team. The heart was transported to Medanta in Gurgaon within 12 minutes, covering a distance of 20km, went to a 49 year old man from Kolkata. The liver went to a 46 year old man from Dehradun at Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon. One of the kidneys went to a 45 year old man at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute and the other to a 35 year old woman at Safdarjung hospital, both from Delhi. Both his corneas were also sent to Safdarjung Hospital.

“We thank the donor’s family for making such a noble gesture in their hour of grief,” said Abrar Ali Dalal, facility director, Fortis, Vasant Kunj. “It was also the clockwork precision of all medical teams that made this cadaveric donation a reality,” he added.

The NOTTO (National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization) protocol and guidelines say that each hospital should inform about possible cases of organ donation. The body then decides on the organ distribution among hospitals based on a list of recipients. In this case, the hospital had informed NOTTO and taken police clearance as this was a medico-legal case.

Dr. Avnish Seth, director, Fortis Organ Retrieval and Transplant (FORT) said, “The organ donation rate in the country has increased 10-fold over the last five years. It has gone up from 0.05 per million population to 0.5 per million. People from all walks of life are saying ‘yes’ to organ donation. We are truly humbled by their noble gesture every time. With NOTTO fully functional, and regional and State machineries getting into the act, an organ donation rate of 1 per million by 2020 looks a distinct possibility.”

The entire process of organ donation and transplant surgeries is meticulously planned and executed. While attending to the grieving family members through counseling, efficient co-ordination by the medical and administrative team is necessary to speed up formalities and facilitate quick transportation of donated organ. Police clearance is required in medico-legal cases and support from the Traffic Police is equally critical in creating a “green corridor” for rapid transportation.

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Source-Medindia