Liver transplant saves sexagenarian’s life

31-year-old accident victim’s liver donated to give fresh lease of life to ‘End-Stage’ disease patient

January 04, 2017 12:47 am | Updated 12:48 am IST - HYDERABAD:

A 60-year-old man with End-Stage Liver Disease escaped death by a whisker availing a liver transplant in the city, just two days after registering for the organ.

Jeevandan, the state-run organ donation programme, received a request on December 31 from the man, who was not named to prevent identification, for liver. The request was categorised ‘super emergency’ as his Model for End-Stage Liver Disease or MELD score was 33, associated with an extremely high risk of mortality.

The donation came from a 31-year-old who suffered a fatal road accident at Konijerla, Khammam. Father of two, V. Ravi Kumar, a private employee was on his two-wheeler when he suffered severe head injuries. After receiving first aid at a local hospital, he was brought to a corporate hospital in the city, where he was declared brain dead on Monday.

After being counselled, Mr. Kumar’s family agreed to donate his liver, kidneys, heart and corneas.

The kidneys have been transplanted into two 35-year-olds on dialysis for over a year while his heart was transplanted into a woman with ventricular problems. The corneas were donated to an eye bank.

Jeevandan officials say in the normal course of registering for an organ, it takes at least six months for a patient to get a liver for transplant. “In this case, a matching liver was found immediately owing to the patient’s critical condition,” said an official.

The state’s organ donation scheme saw its number of donations increase last year and touch 100. Doctors credit increased awareness for the rise but also call for better trauma care facilities in the State’s public hospitals where few organs compared to private hospitals are harvested and fewer transplants performed.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.