The organs of a brain-dead French national were harvested by a city hospital and used for transplantation, on Sunday.
Manicame Djealatchoumy (64) suffered from chronic kidney disease and had come to India to visit temples across Tamil Nadu.
“My mother was originally from Puducherry but settled in France in 1999. She wanted to visit the temples here and so, we came to India with other family members. We visited temples in Thanjavur, Pudukottai and Tiruchi,” said Manicame Senthilvelan, one of Djealatchoumy’s three sons.
Djealatchoumy suffered a stroke and was admitted to Apollo Hospitals last week. She was declared brain dead on Sunday and her family decided to donate her organs. The organs were retrieved the same day.
According to Apollo Hospitals, Djealatchoumy’s liver was transplanted on a patient at the hospital.
In the past four years of the State government launching the cadaver transplant programme, quite a few foreigners have received organs from Indian donors. Djealatchoumy’s was the rare instance of organ donation by a foreign national, an official said.
J. Amalorpavanathan, convenor of the State Cadaver Transplant Programme, said organs were donated to patients from abroad only after exhausting the State and national waiting lists.
Ms. Djealatchoumy is the second donor in two weeks at Apollo Hospitals. On July 9, the lungs, liver and kidneys of 44-year-old Venkataraman were harvested after he was declared brain dead following a road accident.
