HEART TRANSPLANT AT PGIMER

NEW LEASE OF LIFE 10-year-old brain dead girl, 11-year-old deceased boy donate heart, kidneys to 5

› PGIMER is overwhelmed with Covid positive patients. Introducing those waiting to receive an organ to this environment and conducting transplants is riddled with multiple challenges. Credit goes to the team. Their untiring efforts helped save five lives.

DR JAGAT RAM, director, PGIMER

CHANDIGARH: The Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) performed the first transplant of the year on Saturday by harvesting the organ from a 10-year-old brain dead girl from Kharar, Mohali.

The heart from the donor, whose identity has been kept confidential on the request of the parents, gave a second lease of life to three people with the donation of the kidneys as well.

YOUNG KIDS DONATED ORGANS

The 10-year-old had had a fatal fall on July 14 at her home. After an initial treatment at Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, she was shifted to PGIMER on the same day.

This is the sixth heart transplant conducted at PGIMER to date. Among the previous transplants, only one person had died before being discharged from the hospital, and two people had survived for three years and three months respectively; two of them are still alive.

The first heart transplant at the institute was conducted in August 2013.

Kidneys from another 11-year-old donor were also transplanted to save two other lives on July 22. Donor’s father Amandeep of Chikha village in Rupnagar displayed the rare courage of organ donation of his deceased son who was admitted at PGIMER on July 16 with intracranial bleeding. His condition kept worsening and finally Amandeep was declared brain dead.

SURGERIES IN THE TIME OF COVID

Professor Jagat Ram, director of PGIMER, describing the challenges amid the pandemic, said, “With the numbers consistently surging, PGIMER is overwhelmed with Covid positive patients. So, introducing those waiting to receive an organ to this environment as well as conducting transplants is riddled with multiple challenges. The credit goes to each and every member of the team whose untiring efforts helped save five lives with the two latest organ donations.”

Professor Ashish Sharma, head of the Department of Renal Transplant Surgery, who led four kidney transplants back to back, said, “Special precautions were taken to proceed with the transplants. The deceased donor, as well as both recipients, were tested and confirmed to be negative for Covid-19. Fortunately, all four kidneys have started to function well. The recipients had been on dialysis for more than three years.”

Professor Vipin Koushal, nodal officer, Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation, said, “The act of organ donation during these difficult times shows magnanimity on part of the donor families who agreed to donate despite suffering a loss of their young children, both being less than 12 years old. It’s an extremely tough call but ‘spirit of giving’ overcomes all obstacles.”