The government-run super-specialty hospital built under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) in Bengaluru has reported its first brain death case on Thursday.
A 37-year-old person Krishnamurthy from Hanumanthpura in Chikkanayakanahalli taluk of Tumkur district, who met with an accident near Gaviranganathpura in Tumkur, has been declared brain dead and his vital organs will now save four lives.
According to the Zonal Coordination Committee of Karnataka for Transplantation (ZCCK), the nodal agency for facilitating organ transplants in the State, the family consented to donate the kidneys, liver and heart valves.
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Nagesh N.S., head of the transplant team at PMSSY super-speciality hospital, told The Hindu that this is the first brain death case reported from a government hospital.
The hospital, located on the campus of Victoria Hospital, is all set to start liver transplants from this month end and has all equipment in place for organ retrieval and transplant. Thursday's organ donation will save the lives of four patients in other hospitals, he said.
While one kidney has been donated to a 37-year-old patient in the State-run Institute of Nephro Urology, the other has been given to a 49-year-old patient in Suguna Hospital. The liver will save the life of a six-year-old boy in Narayana Hrudayalaya and the heart valve has also gone to another patient in the same hospital, ZCCK authorities said.
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According to the donor's brother Raghunath, Mr Krishnamurthy met with an accident while he was returning home after dropping his eight-year-old daughter for tution. Apart from this daughter, he has a six-year-old son. His wife is an Anganwadi teacher.
Mr Raghunath said although the family was not aware of organ donations, they were convinced they the vital organs could save the lives of others after doctors and counsellors from ZCCK explained to them. "We are happy we can see him live on in others,” he said.