A 15-year-old girl, who met with a fatal road accident on August 15, has saved the lives of six people by donating her organs. Basu was the daughter of a daily wage labourer, Ajo Manji, who has six other children – three sons and three daughters.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The young girl was injured in a road accident on August 15 and was admitted to PGIMER, Chandigarh, with severe head injuries. She was declared brain dead on August 20 at 9 a.m. and was kept on a ventilator to sustain her organs,” a statement issued by the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday said.
Collective decision
The family members of the deceased were counselled by the transplant coordinator at the PGI and they later took a collective decision to donate the girl’s organs.
ADVERTISEMENT
On August 21, the National Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organisation (NOTTO) released an alert about the availability of a donor heart at the PGI. The kidneys, corneas, liver, heart and pancreas were retrieved and the heart was allocated to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences (ABVIMS), Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, here on Monday.
Basu’s heart was received by a 32-year-old woman, Laxmi Devi, hailing from Bhagalpur in Bihar, who got a new lease of life on August 22. Ms. Laxmi, a patient with terminal heart failure following childbirth was suffering from breathlessness severe enough to curtail even routine daily activities. She was evaluated at ABVIMS by a team of cardiologists who advised a heart transplant. She was then registered with NOTTO for transplant at the earliest availability of a donor heart.
Patient stable
“The patient was transferred to CTVS ICU after surgery in a stable condition,” said the Health Ministry.
This was the first successful heart transplant at a Central government-run hospital in New Delhi. The operation was conducted by a cardiac surgical team led by Dr. Vijay Grover and comprising Dr. Milind Hote, Dr. Narender Jhajhria and Dr. Palash Aiyer.