Murugan, We are proud of you!

Seethalakshmi Ammal (64)

An organ transplant right out of the hit flick Traffic showed how the peoples mindset was changing towards donating organs. Murugan, son of 64-year-old Seethalakshmi, hailing from West Fort in Thiruvananthapuram agreed to donate her mother's kidneys and liver after she was declared brain dead. The sanction was accorded by the expert committee on September 2 night to transplant the organs of Seethalakshmi. A multi-organ harvesting team from Amritha Hospital in Kochi rushed to the State capital and harvested the organs. The liver was allocated to Amritha and both kidneys were rushed to MIMS Hospital in Kozhikode on the same day. The initial response has been overwhelming,and this could be a stimulus for all organ transplant centres to be a part of the programme, said Dr Ramdas Pisharadi.

On Saturday, when a case of brain death was reported at a private hospital in the city and the family of the patient came forward to donate the organs, the heath system rose in response and cleared all legal hurdles to make it possible that the organs could be harvested and transplanted well on time. When SP Fort Hospital reported the brain death, Health Secretary Rajeev Sadanandan issued special orders giving permission for the hospital to act as an NTORC for a day so that organ harvesting could be done. Seethalakshmi Ammal (64) had been declared brain-dead at SP Fort Hospital on Friday following brain haemorrhage and all processes for organ donation were initiated immediately, thanks to the excellent coordination, communication and team work between the private hospitals involved as well as the State Deceased Donor Organ Transplantation Committee, headed by Ramdas Pisharody.

The Thiruvananthapuram Medical College had just completed its second deceased donor kidney transplantation in a row, under Shyam K. Ramesh, Head of Urology, and did not have any ready recipients for kidney. Blood samples of patients from both Medical College Hospitals in Thiruvananthapuram and Kottayam were sent for cross-matching. The Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) had the immediate need of a liver. Several other hospitals were also contacted seeking potential recipients. It was early morning on Saturday when the multi-organ harvesting team from AIMS reached SP Fort Hospital. Both kidneys went to Malabar Institute of Medical Sciences (MIMS) as only their patients could be ideally cross-matched. By 7 a.m. on Sunday, the body was handed over to the relatives and the organs, on the way to recipients by road. All transplantation surgeries were successful. An excellent beginning for the State but a fair and equitable organ donation programme will become a reality once the registry, Kerala Network for Organ Sharing, gets going.