Vital organs were harvested from a person, who was declared brain dead following an accident, at a hospital here and was donated to seven persons. S. Karthikeyan, 29, a bus conductor working in Erode, fell from the footboard while issuing tickets at Periapalayam near Tirupur. After an initial treatment at Erode, he was admitted to K.G. Hospital here
After scans revealed significant dysfunction of the brain system, he was declared 'brain dead'. The first declaration was made at 12 noon on May 8 by M. Natarajan, Chief Neurosurgeon, and final declaration by T.C.R. Ramakrishnan, Chief Neurologist, at 6.10 p.m. on the same day.
C.B. Chandrasekaran, Cadaver Transplant Coordinator, informed the patient’s wife K. Umamaheswari of the situation, after which she consented to donate the organs of her husband.
G. Bakthavathsalam, Chairman of the K.G. Hospital, said that people are increasingly volunteering to donate their organs now compared to the situation some few years ago. He also cautioned the public, especially students, not to travel on the bus footboard.
The multi organ harvesting was performed on Thursday by a team of doctors including V.P. Shanmugasundaram, Chief Surgeon, R. Balasubramaniyam, Chief Nephrologist, N.M. Balakrishnan and Tirumalaiswamy, Urologists, R. Senthilkumar and A. Selvakumar, anaesthesiologist, A. Kumaran, Surgeon and Ophthalmologist Manoj Ramachandran. A team from Global Hospital, Chennai also assisted the team.
A kidney was donated to K.G. Hospital, the other kidney to Kovai Medical Center and Hospital, the two heart values to Madras Medical Mission, Chennai, the liver to Global Hospitals, Chennai and the pair of eye to K.G. Eye Hospital.
