JJ Hospital first state-run institute to harvest organs from cadaver

Out of the four state-run hospitals selected, Sir Jamshedji Jeejeebhoy Hospital becomes the first to performed its first-ever cadaver donation process where organs are harvested from a patient who was declared brain dead by the doctors on Sunday morning. Doctors said when she was brought to the hospital, her condition was worsening due to which they decided to convince her family to donate her organs.

The cadaver donation was performed on Sangeeta Mahajan from Jalgoan district who had met with an accident on July 17, 2017 and was admitted to Sir JJ Hospital on July 20. “When she was admitted to the hospital, her condition was deteriorating and doctors found her brain was dying. Her condition was explained to her husband after which he agreed to donate her vital organs like kidney, heart, liver and cornea,” a senior doctor said.

After Mahajan’s husband Rajesh gave his consent, the process of cadaver donation began. Both her eyes and liver and have been donated for transplant. “Mahajan’s liver was sent to Jupiter Hospital and both eyes went to eye bank in Sir JJ Hospital. Her heart could not be donated because of the lack of suitable recipient. Also, her kidneys were declared unfit for donation,” added doctor.

“I am happy that the first ever cadaver donation was conducted by the doctors of JJ hospital. But still we need lot of awareness to spread, there are many times relatives are reluctant about donating the organs which is a very hard point to convince,” said Dr. Tatyarao Lahane, dean of JJ hospital.

He further stated that the condition of Mahajan’s heart was not good and due to high-level of creatinine in the kidneys, they cannot be used.

Mahajan family’s move is significant because despite a rise in number of cadaver donations in Mumbai in the recent past, the rates have been very low in government hospitals.

“Incidentally, India has one of the lowest organ donation rates in the world. While countries like Spain and Croatia have organ donation rates of 30 per million, India’s rate is currently pegged at an insignificant 0.36 per million,” another senior doctor added.