A fifty-five year old farmer of Anantapur district lives in the form of his organs transplanted into three unknown persons, in spite of dying a tragic death in a road accident.
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Aparala Sunkireddy met with a road accident near Gooty when his motorcycle collided with a four-wheeler on September 10. He was initially admitted to Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) Hospital, Bengaluru, and was later moved to Spandana Hospital, owing to severity of his injuries. He was further shifted to Sparsh Hospital in Yeshwantpur on the night of September 11 for advanced medical care. In spite of serious efforts to bring him back alive, Sunkireddy’s condition deteriorated over the next two days, when he was declared brain dead on September 14.
As the farmer is survived by his wife and two children, the family members decided to overcome their grief by offering to donate his organs to people in need of transplant. His liver and right kidney were successfully transplanted to patients at the same hospital, while the other kidney was sent to Manipal hospital to be used for another patient.
The donation came as a timely reminder on the need to reach out to beneficiaries waiting for organ transplantation. A report by National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) suggests that only 1,500 of the 30,000 patients requiring liver transplant annually benefit from this life-saving procedure.
“Sunkireddy might have died, but his noble act has turned him immortal. His generous gesture is a testament to the immense impact an individual can have on multiple lives”, the hospital’s Group Chief Operating Officer Joseph Pasangha said. He put the deceased organ donation rate in India at less than 1% per million population. Back home, Sunkireddy’s family is happy at having etched his name in history forever.