The growing acceptability of deceased donor organ transplantation programme amongst the public was once again to the fore as another family, who had lost its son/father, came forward to donate the organs to those awaiting a fresh lease of life.
The two kidneys of A. S. Jayachandran (44), who had been admitted to the Neuro intensive care unit at the Medical College Hospital here on Thursday following an accident and had been subsequently declared brain-dead, was successfully transplanted on two young chronic kidney patients on the renal transplant list.
Jayachandran, who had been an employee at the NSS College for Women at Karamana, was also the nephew of the late P.K. Narayana Panicker, former general secretary of NSS. He had been hit by a vehicle and was found by the road at night on October 18 and was brought to the hospital as unknown’ by the emergency ambulance service.
G. Venugopal, Professor of Urology at MCH, who did the transplant surgeries on Saturday night, said it was a chance conversation that he had with Jagadishkumar, son of Narayana Panicker and also a doctor, on train on Saturday morning that eventually got the family thinking about organ donation.
The family, once they were told about organ donation, was only too willing to seize the opportunity to give life to others even amidst the pain of dealing with the untimely death of their son. Jayachandran’s wife, Beena, an employee at the Secretariat, also gave her assent.
Though the cross-matching and tissue typing of five patients on renal transplant list gave favourable results, two were chosen on the basis of their seniority on the list as well as their medical condition. Though a team from the Amritha Institute of Medical Sciences had come to harvest the liver, they eventually decided not to, as the liver enzymes were high.
The body was handed over to the relatives after post-mortem examination on Sunday.
