Doctors at Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI) enabled retrieval and donation of three organs from a 44-year-old woman following brain death at the hospital on Wednesday. The feat became possible after the patient’s family consented to donate her organs.
National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation allocated the organs to three separate recipients — two wait-listed recipients at Fortis Gurugram received the liver and one kidney, and a recipient at private hospital in Delhi received the second kidney.
This courageous move by the donor’s family is a progressive step at a time during the pandemic when the organ donation numbers are plummeting, said the hospital, in a press statement.
Bleeding in brain
Om Prakash, Consultant, Neuro Anesthesia, FMRI, Gurugram, said that the donor was admitted to the hospital on the night of September 15. She was found unconscious and on evaluation, there was evidence of major bleeding in the brain. Despite the efforts of the neurosurgical team, she succumbed, and was declared brain dead. The family, despite their hour of grief, decided to donate her organs and corneas. One kidney and liver were transplanted at FMRI into a 38-year-old woman and 52-year-old man, respectively. The second kidney was allotted and transplanted into a 43-year-old woman in Delhi. Both corneas were sent to an eye bank.
In India, the current organ donation rate is less than one donor per million population as compared to more than 30 donors per million in most western countries, said the press statement.
