New Delhi:

The Centre has asked states to monitor cases of brain stem deaths in ICU patients, saying poor identification and certification of such cases is keeping the organ donations rate at low levels in the country.

The advisory to the states is aimed at augmenting the organ donation rate in the country which is less than one donor per million population.

“The organ donation rate in India continues to be low (less than one donor per million population in a year). One of the key challenges identified in this is poor identification and certification of brain stem death (BSD) cases despite availability of many such potential cases,” Director of National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) Dr Anil Kumar stated in the letter to the states.

As per provisions of “The Transplantation of Human Organs Tissues Act, 1994”, it is required to identify potential brain stem death cases in the ICU.

Further, it is mandatory to enquire whether such potential donors had pledged for organ donation and if not to make the family members aware of the opportunity to donate organs before the heart stops under the law, he said.

The doctor on duty, with the help of transplant coordinator, is required to make the above-mentioned inquiry after certification of such BSD cases, Dr Anil Kumar said in the letter sent to all states and UTs and directors of regional and state organ and tissue transplant organisation (ROTTOs and SOTTOs) last month.

Dr Anil Kumar said every institution is requested to facilitate and monitor the certification of BSD cases to ensure compliance of provisions of the Act and Rules.

In his letter, the official attached a template of ‘required request display board’ that is to be placed outside ICUs, emergency or any other strategic location in the hospital. He also attached a list of information to be collected from the hospitals on a regular monthly basis.

The head of the institution and respective SOTTO should analyse the collected information and the corrective actions must be taken with the aim to maximise organ donation from all potential donors, he said.

Further, all SOTTOs are requested to collect such information as per the list from each registered hospital and send it to the NOTTO by the seventh of every subsequent month, the letter said.

“I seek your cooperation and support for augmenting the organ donation rate in the country so as to achieve self-sufficiency in the field of dead organ donation,” the letter added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bhubaneswar:

The family members of a CRPF soldier in Odisha’s Khurda district on Monday donated his heart and liver following his brain death.

A doctor in the private hospital where he died said the two organs were carried to Kolkata and Mumbai to give a new lease of life to two persons.

According to sources in the hospital, Krushna Chandra Mahabhoi was serving as a havildar in CRPF in Jammu and Kashmir.

Suffering from a chronic kidney disease, he has been undergoing dialysis for some two years. He was found brain dead at a hospital here on March 20.

“After his brain death, we sought permission from the family members for organ donation and they agreed. Subsequently, arrangements were made for that,” said Dr Alisha Choudhury of the private hospital.

Initially, the family was reluctant to allow doctors to take out the organs from his body.

“But my mother suggested that my father has devoted his life to the nation. Now, if two people can survive with my father’s organ, that will also be a service. So, we agreed,” said the deceased’s son Satyabrata Mahabhoi.

While Mahabhoi’s heart will be transplanted in a patient in Kolkata and liver in another patient in Mumbai, Satyabrata said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

A painter who lost both hands in a tragic accident is about to hold his brush again, thanks to the surgical excellence of a group of Delhi doctors and a woman’s organ donation pledge that transformed four lives.

The 45-year-old, whose case is the first successful bilateral hand transplant in Delhi, will be released from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital tomorrow. He had lost both his hands in a train accident in 2020. Coming from an underprivileged background, he was staring at a dead end.

But miracles happen. The hands of Meena Mehta, former administrative head of a prominent South Delhi school who was declared brain-dead, came to the 45-year-old’s rescue. Ms Mehta had, during her lifetime, pledged her organs to be used after her death.

Her kidney, liver and corneas have transformed the lives of three others. And her hands have revived a painter’s dreams after a crushing setback.

But this would not have been possible without the hard work of the team of doctors that pulled off the Himalayan task. The surgery, which took more than 12 hours, involved connecting every artery, muscle, tendon and nerve between the donor’s hands and the recipient’s arms. Dedication paid off and at the end, when the team of healthcare staff posed for a picture, the double thumbs-up by the painter who got his hands back was the highlight.