The family members of a young engineer declared brain dead due to a serious coronary artery disease have donated his organs to give a fresh lease of life to eight needy patients.
S. Govindaraj, 27, was working with a city-based company. The bereaved father, S. Sukumar, an auto driver in Chennai, informed doctors at Yashoda Hospital, where Mr. Govindaraj was admitted on January 24, that it was his son's wish to donate his eyes.
“Along with Govindaraj's colleagues, we convinced the father on the significance of donating organs. The father readily accepted to donate his son's organs on Republic Day,” said the chief executive officer of Mohan Foundation, K. Raghuram.
After getting admitted to Yashoda Hospital with severe chest pain on January 24, Mr. Govindaraj went into an unresponsive state on January 25. On Wednesday, the doctors declared him brain dead.
Mr. Sukumar said the decision to donate his son's organs was heavily influenced by the ongoing successful organ donation and transplantation programme in Tamil Nadu. The father pointed out that he had read a lot about the virtues of organ donation in newspapers. “I am happy that my son, despite passing away, has given a fresh lease of life to needy patients. He will continue to live,” he said.
On January 26, the body of the deceased was shifted to Global Hospitals where the doctors made arrangements to extract liver, kidneys, heart valves and eyes. The organs were sent to city hospitals for transplantation. Incidentally, this was the first organ donation in Hyderabad in 2011.
