Navi Mumbai: Nepal guard city’s first foreign cadaver donor
Malathy Iyer | TNN | Mar 16, 2019, 05:39 IST
Representative imageMUMBAI: The city's first cadaver donation by a foreigner took place on Friday when the family of a 62-year-old Nepalese national, who worked as a security man in Navi Mumbai, donated his kidneys to two organ-failure patients here. The city has witnessed five cadaver donations this month so far, taking the total donations to 25 this year. In 2018, 48 donations were registered in the city.
Regarding Friday's donation, a spokesperson for Apollo Hospital in Nerul said, "The donor, Ruk Bahadur, was rushed to our hospital on March 10 with a severe head injury." It is learnt that he suffered a massive intracranial bleed that resulted in irreversible brain damage. "He was declared brain dead on March 13. His wife and son who rushed from Nepal consented to donate his organs," said the spokesperson, adding that Bahadur worked as a security guard in a nearby facility.
Bahadur incidentally isn't the first foreign donor for India. Delhi had a French national whose family donated his organs a few years back, while Chennai has witnessed two donations by foreign nationals.
Experts told TOI that the Transplant of Human Organs Act doesn't specifically mention cadaveric organ donations, but the medical fraternity in Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai has involved the consulate concerned.
"We wrote to the Nepalese consulate and to the police station in the locality where the donor worked," said Dr Surendra Mathur of the Mumbai Zonal Transplant Coordination Centre (ZTCC). ZTCC coordinates and distributes cadaveric organs between various hospitals in the city.
He said with Friday's donation, the city has witnessed five donations this month so far. He credited this to increased awareness among people as well as the proactive steps taken by ZTCC in the last three months; ZTCC has been talking to intensivists who manage ICUs in a bid to increase brain death recognition. While cornea, bones and skin can be donated by everyone after death, solid organs such as heart, lungs and pancreas can only be retrieved from brain dead patients.
One of Bahadur's kidneys was donated to a 52-year-old woman registered for transplant at Apollo Hospital while the second kidney was transplanted into a patient registered at Sion Hospital.
Regarding Friday's donation, a spokesperson for Apollo Hospital in Nerul said, "The donor, Ruk Bahadur, was rushed to our hospital on March 10 with a severe head injury." It is learnt that he suffered a massive intracranial bleed that resulted in irreversible brain damage. "He was declared brain dead on March 13. His wife and son who rushed from Nepal consented to donate his organs," said the spokesperson, adding that Bahadur worked as a security guard in a nearby facility.
Bahadur incidentally isn't the first foreign donor for India. Delhi had a French national whose family donated his organs a few years back, while Chennai has witnessed two donations by foreign nationals.
Experts told TOI that the Transplant of Human Organs Act doesn't specifically mention cadaveric organ donations, but the medical fraternity in Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai has involved the consulate concerned.
"We wrote to the Nepalese consulate and to the police station in the locality where the donor worked," said Dr Surendra Mathur of the Mumbai Zonal Transplant Coordination Centre (ZTCC). ZTCC coordinates and distributes cadaveric organs between various hospitals in the city.
He said with Friday's donation, the city has witnessed five donations this month so far. He credited this to increased awareness among people as well as the proactive steps taken by ZTCC in the last three months; ZTCC has been talking to intensivists who manage ICUs in a bid to increase brain death recognition. While cornea, bones and skin can be donated by everyone after death, solid organs such as heart, lungs and pancreas can only be retrieved from brain dead patients.
One of Bahadur's kidneys was donated to a 52-year-old woman registered for transplant at Apollo Hospital while the second kidney was transplanted into a patient registered at Sion Hospital.
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