Organs from brain-dead man give new lease of life to four

Organs harvested from a brain-dead accident victim on Friday gave a new lease of life to at least four others, doctors said.

Ravidas, 19, of Paschim Vihar was admitted to the Maharaja Agrasen Hospital here on January 14 after an accident but declared brain dead on Friday as he did not respond to treatment.

Hospital authorities convinced his parents to donate their deceased son’s organs for transplantation to patients admitted in other hospitals.

The Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences here was consulted and the body taken to AIIMS where the heart, liver, kidneys and one cornea were harvested from the deceased’s body.

The donated heart was transplanted in a 13-year-old girl at the AIIMS, while the liver was transplanted in a 60-year-old patient of liver cancer at the Institute of Liver and Bilary Sciences.

AIIMS director M.C. Misra said one of the kidneys was given to a 40-year-old patient at the institute while the other was sent to Maharaja Agrasen Hospital here for transplantation.

“As Ravidas’ one eye was damaged in the accident, cornea of only one eye could be retrieved. It was sent to the organ bank at AIIMS since no immediate requirement by any patient was received,” Misra said.