Multiple organ donation in Delhi: Man gives new life to several patients

Several people got a new lease of life after receiving organs of a 40-year-old man, including his heart, liver and kidneys, who died at a private hospital here, doctors said Wednesday.

An in-house 'green corridor' was created at the hospital premises in south Delhi which facilitated a quick and efficient transfer of donated organs, which benefited six patients, officials said.

It took Dr Kewal Krishan, director, Heart Transplant and LVAD Program at Max Hospital, Saket, and his team, seven minutes to retrieve the heart and another three minutes to transfer it to the operation theatre, where the recipient was awaiting transplant, hospital authorities said.

"The surgery took four-and-half hours thereafter since it was a 're-do' surgery," the hospital said in a statement.

The donated liver was retrieved and harvested at Liver and Biliary Sciences, Max Hospital, and the recipient is a 46-year-old Delhiite who was suffering from end-stage liver failure.

One kidney was transplanted at the facility's Urology, Renal Transplant and Robotics department.

The second kidney was shared with Indraprastha Apollo Hospital and the cornea was retrieved by Dr Shroff Charity Eye Hospital as allocated by National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation.

A hospital spokesperson said the patient was rushed into the emergency ward of Max on a ventilator support after he had suffered a massive cardiac arrest at another hospital on July 12.

"He was immediately shifted too the ICU and put on close monitoring considering he was in coma when he had arrived. After thorough examination, it was found that his brain function was severely impacted, indicative of possible brain death.

"His prognosis was extremely poor from the very moment he had arrived. He had signs of brain injury (a state where oxygen deprivation to the brain leads to rapid death of brain tissues). The patient was unresponsive to even the highest levels of treatment and was declared brain dead on Saturday," said Dr Omender Singh, Director, Institute of Critical Care Medicine and ICU, at Max hospital, Saket.

The family had been informed about his condition throughout and updated them about the bleak prognosis. The family was counselled about the possibility of organ donation to save several lives, the hospital said.

"Patient's heart, liver, kidneys and cornea (tissue donation) were found fit for donation.

"His lungs couldn't be harvested since they were found unfit," Singh said.