77-year-old donates organs at AIIMS

A 77-year-old man became the oldest organ donor at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here after he donated his liver, both his kidneys and corneas, hospital authorities said Friday.

According to the AIIMS authorities, the patients' organs were shifted to the AIIMS trauma centre after he was declared brain dead Feb 17. He was initially admitted to the west Delhi-based Orchid Hospital.

"After the patients' family members had given consent for the donation, the organs were shifted with the help of a green corridor (Janakpuri to AIIMS) the Delhi traffic police had created," Rajeev Maikhuri, a senior official at the Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation, told IANS.

"The green corridor helped to a great extent. Due to AIIMS director M.C. Misra's intervention, the traffic police provided all support and within 21 minutes we covered the distance of 25km between the two hospitals," Maikhuri said.

He said that while both kidneys were transplanted into a 45-year-old patient at AIIMS, the liver was transplanted into a 28-year-old patient at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS).

Both the corneas of the patient have been preserved at the AIIMS eye centre as there was no needy patient immediately.

The donors' family members had also consented to donate the patients' heart but it was not retrieved keeping in mind his health history.