Setting rare example, Mumbai woman donates bones, skin in death

Only the third such contribution since 2016 to the Tata Memorial Hospital, India’s oldest tissue bank

Kalaichelvi Jawahar

In an encouraging example of organ and tissue donation, a family from Kharghar donated the bones of their loved one, apart from her corneas and skin.

For Mumbai’s Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH), which houses the country’s oldest and city’s lone tissue bank, it was only the third such donation since 2016.

‘Helpful nature’

When 66-year-old Kalaichelvi Jawahar passed away at Apollo Hospital in Navi Mumbai on September 20, her husband communicated her wish to donate eyes to the intensive care specialist. The doctor put the family in touch with a counsellor from Mohan Foundation, an NGO that promotes organ donation and transplants.

“The counsellor explained that, besides the corneas, we can also donate the skin and bones,” said Jawahar’s son, Selvakumar. “My mother had an extremely helpful nature. She would have wanted to do this, as it meant helping needy patients somewhere out there,” he said.

Jawahar was diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), a chronic lung disease, in 2016. During a recent follow-up, her doctor advised hospitalisation as her disease had progressed. She was admitted to Apollo Hospital on September 12, but her condition worsened and she had to be shifted to an ICU after two days. Infection worsened the prognosis and she eventually went into a fatal cardiac arrest.

A special case

“We were willing to donate her organs, like the kidneys and liver, too. But doctors explained that organs could be donated only in case of brain stem death. In a cardiac death, only the tissues can be taken,” said Jawahar’s 70-year-old husband, Jawahar Krishnan.

Soon after the family’s consent was received, an orthopaedic surgeon retrieved the iliac crest, which is the upper portion of the hip bone, and a few ribs. The bones were sent to the TMH’s tissue bank. Her corneas were sent to Laxmi Eye Bank in Navi Mumbai, and the skin went to Masina Hospital in Byculla.

“A central incision is made in the body to retrieve the bones. Only a few ribs are retrieved so that the rib cage does not collapse and the body is not disfigured in any way. The retrieval of the iliac crest only leads to a slight compression,” explained Dr. Astrid Lobo Gajiwala, who heads the TMH’s tissue bank, which was set up in 1988.

In February 2016, the bank received bones from a deceased donor for the first time. The second donation took place in August the same year. Jawahar’s was the third such donation.

“We hope to be able to retrieve the bones from the upper and lower limbs as well, but such retrievals are more advanced and require trained hands,” said Dr. Gajiwala, adding that workshops were being planned for training as well as counselling for tissue donation alongside organ donation. Donated bones are highly helpful for patients who have their bones removed due to cancers, infections or injuries.

‘Need for awareness’

According to Jigisha Yadav, counsellor with Mohan Foundation, the fact that the body will not be disfigured in any way is one of the primary messages put forward during counselling. “But there is still lack of awareness, as a consequence of which not everyone consents,” said Ms. Yadav, who has counselled over 15 families in the past eight months, of which five consented for organ and tissue donations.

“Many have opened up to the concept of eye donation but donating others tissues is still not very known. We need to replicate the [success of the] eye donation campaign with celebrities like Aishwarya Rai for other tissues and organs as well,” Jaya Jairam, Mohan Foundation’s project manager, said.