The organs of a school teacher, who was declared brain dead after a road accident last week, were harvested for donation.
P. Sahaya Remin, 34, was riding his two-wheeler to a funeral in Red Hills on May 4, when the accident took place on Chennai Bypass Road.
He was rushed to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital from where he was referred to Apollo Firstmed Hospital in Kilpauk.
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However, he did not regain consciousness and on May 9, his relatives were informed that he was brain dead.
Kin readily agree to donate organs
With their consent, his organs — eyes, heart, lungs, liver and kidneys — were harvested, according to his colleagues at St. Joseph's Higher Secondary School in East Tambaram, where Mr. Remin was a Tamil teacher for over a decade.
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His liver and a kidney were given to Apollo Hospitals while the other kidney was sent to Vijaya Hospital, said state transplant coordinator J. Amalorpavanathan.
As there were no takers for the heart, the valves were harvested and sent to Madras Medical Mission Hospital. The eyes were sent to Sankara Nethralaya.
His body was later taken to his native place — Royapampatti village near Uthamapalayam in Theni District.
He is survived by his wife, A. Sharmila, a lecturer at A.M. Jain College in Meenambakkam, and their sons Mark Yugan, a class I student and eight-month-old Mark Yohan.
Mr. Remin's colleagues lauded his wife and kin for acting fast on their decision to donate his organs. They recalled that the teacher was the first to sign up for organ donation when an awareness camp was held in the school. A graduate in Tamil literature through a correspondence course from Madras University, he completed B.Ed before joining the school as a teacher in 2001.
Dedicated teacher
Always the first to arrive and last to leave, he was known for his punctuality and discipline, and had a deep affection for his students, a colleague said. He had enrolled for M.A. in Tamil Literature through correspondence and was to appear for the first semester examinations in the third week of May.
The family stayed in a rented house until recently. A while ago, they bought a flat and used up all their savings, apart from pledging some jewellery and taking a loan, a colleague said. On May 3, a day before the accident, they began shifting into the new house.
Helped those in need
L.R. Tamilselvan, who is closely associated with the school and knew Mr. Remin, said that the latter was always willing to lend a helping hand to the needy.
He was especially supportive of his friends and relatives from Theni who came to make a living in Chennai.
“I hope and pray that the harvested organs benefit the deserving, especially the poor. Throughout his life, Remin's cherished dream was to empower the poor and downtrodden through education and employment,” Mr. Tamilselvan said.