The life of Malkit Singh was cut short when he was admitted to PGIMER in an extremely precarious condition.Organ donation by the family of 24-year-old Malkit Singh (Mittu), a resident of Balyana village in Kangra district (Himachal Pradesh), gave second lease of life to three terminally ill patients and sight to two corneal blind patients at PGIMER on Tuesday.
The life of Malkit Singh was cut short when he was admitted to PGIMER in an extremely precarious condition due to head injury on account of fall on April 27. Around 11.35 pm on Sunday, Singh was declared brain-dead.
Singh was employed with a private company in Mohali. “He died the same way he lived, by caring and giving. Compassion was, in fact, at the core of his being. During his life, he gave others the gift of life through his regular blood donations. In death, he became saviour for many lives by being an organ donor,” said Naresh, the heart-broken father of the deceased.
Malkit Singh“Our hearts are broken. We will never be able to see our loving son and we will miss him every single minute of every day. However, because of his kindness, other families will not suffer the same heartache of losing their dear ones. Malkit brought us so much joy and love. Now he has given the same to five different families as well. We could not be more proud of him,” said Naresh as the mortal remains of Singh were being handed over to him at the mortuary of PGIMER after the retrieval of the organs.
The wailing mother, Nirmala Devi, was still in shock. “Strange are God’s ways. It was so sudden, in less than two days he was gone, and we were all left standing, dumb, empty-handed, not able to do anything,” she said.
Navdeep Bansal, the transplant coordinator on duty at PGIMER, raised the matter of organ donation with Naresh and Nirmala Devi, parents of deceased Malkit Singh, who gave their consent for the same. Following the family’s decision of organ donation, liver, pancreas, kidneys and corneas were retrieved from the deceased.
The harvested liver, pancreas and kidneys of the deceased were transplanted in three terminally ill recipients at PGIMER , giving them a fresh lease of life. The retrieved corneas would be transplanted to restore the eye sight of two corneal blind patients.
Prof A K Gupta, Medical Superintendent cum Head, Department of Hospital Administration, PGIMER, stated, “We commend the resolute and indomitable spirit of the donor family. In fact, words fail to describe their noble deed. The donor families like that of Malkit Singh instil confidence in the cadaver donation programme and become instrumental in saving precious lives. They are our real heroes. Malkit Singh’s story, like every donor’s story, is a resurrection story. Out of death and despair came new life.”
“Also appreciable are the determined efforts by the entire PGIMER team involved in the process which enabled the noble wish of the family translate into reality by impacting five lives through transplantation,” Prof Gupta said.
