Organs harvested at WR hospital for the first time save three lives

MUMBAI:WESTERN Railway’s (WR) Jagjivan Ram Hospital (JRH) at Mumbai Central performed its first-ever organ retrieval surgery and gave a new lease of life to three patients suffering from endstage organ failure.

Being a non-transplant centre, the hospital had to take special permission from the state to retrieve organs. The donor, a 64-year-old retired WR office superintendent, was admitted to the hospital on July 9.

“Doctors said he was diagnosed with bilateral ulnar artery thrombosis, but within 48 hours of admission, the patient developed an intra-cranial hemorrhage (bleeding inside the skull). On July 14, with no change in his condition or signs of recovery, his family agreed to donate his organs,” said Dr M Venkatesa Reddy, additional chief health director, JRH.

“However, brain stem death (brain dead) process couldn’t be completed because the hospital was a non-organ retrieval or transplant centre. We contacted Dr Gauri Rathod, assistant director, directorate of health services (DHS) and state’s nodal officer for human organ transplant. She granted one-time special permission for the brain death certification and organ retrieval,” said Dr S K Mathur, president of Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee.

Transplant coordinator and brain stem death certification specialists were provided by Wockhardt Hospital from Mumbai Central.

On Monday, a team of surgeons from KEM Hospital reached JRH at 8am. Patient’s liver, kidneys, and cornea were retrieved and were sent to Apollo and KEM hospitals through a green corridor.

WHILE THE LIVER TRANSPLANT TOOK PLACE AT KEM HOSPITAL, KIDNEY AND CORNEAL TRANSPLANTS WERE DONE AT APOLLO