Gift of life: Brain dead Nalanda youth’s heart and liver transplanted in Kolkata woman, Delhi man - Hindustan Times
close_game
close_game

Gift of life: Brain dead Nalanda youth’s heart and liver transplanted in Kolkata woman, Delhi man

Patna | By, Patna
Sep 26, 2018 02:16 PM IST

Saurabh Pratik’s mother, Sarita Sinha decided to donate her son’s vital organs after doctors at the IGIMS declared him brain dead on September 23, following a fall from rooftop on September 19.

West Bengal’s Rakhi Mondal, 29, and a 46-year-old man in New Delhi have got a new lease of life, thanks to Saurabh Pratik, the 19-year-old youth from Nalanda whose family decided to donate his heart and liver after he was declared brain dead.

Experts say such organ transplants should be done as early as possible, preferably within 6-8 hours. (Representative Image)
Experts say such organ transplants should be done as early as possible, preferably within 6-8 hours. (Representative Image)

Pratik’s organs were transported to Kolkata and New Delhi from Patna on Monday evening. While his heart was transplanted into Mondal at the RN Tagore Institute of Cardiac Sciences, Kolkata, a 46-year-old with cryptogenic liver failure at Delhi’s Institute of Liver and Biliary Science (ILBS), New Delhi got his liver the same evening.

Hindustan Times - your fastest source for breaking news! Read now.

“Both the patients are recovering well. While Mondal is off ventilator support and has begun taking liquid diet, the other patient in Delhi is doing well on mechanical ventilator support and recovering fast,” said Dr Sheil Avneesh, head, cardiothoracic vascular surgery department, Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), Patna, where the organ retrieval was done.

Dr Avneesh was part of the team of experts to have assisted in harvesting the organs along with four experts from the ILBS, Delhi.

“The woman who has been transplanted the heart was suffering from post-partum (post-delivery) dilated cardiomyopathy (DCP), a condition in which the heart’s ability to pump blood is decreased because the heart’s main pumping chamber, the left ventricle, is enlarged and weakened,” said Dr Avneesh.

A doctor, attending on the woman at the RN Tagore Institute of Cardiac Sciences said, “It was a case of almost 4-5 years of post-partum DCP with recurrent heart failure and multiple admissions in hospital, optimised with all heart failure medications, but still with permanent heart failure, which is not responding to medical therapy.”

Pratik’s mother, Sarita Sinha decided to donate her son’s vital organs after doctors at the IGIMS declared him brain dead on September 23, following a fall from rooftop on September 19. He was admitted to the IGIMS on September 22 after a private health facility in Nalanda declared him ‘brain dead’ on September 21.

“We put him on ventilator support and declared him brain dead on September 23 and informed the Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO) at Kolkata for heart transplant and the ILBS for liver transplant. He was operated upon for organ transplant on September 24,” said IGIMS superintendent Dr Manish Mandal.

He said such transplants should be done as early as possible, preferably within 6-8 hours. Pratik’s eyes were preserved at the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, IGIMS, for corneal grafting, before handing over the body to his parents.

The Patna police, Airports Authority of India and the CISF had facilitated the first-of-its kind interstate organ transfer from Bihar by creating a green corridor for the purpose.

With a green corridor created, the distance of approximately 1km between the IGIMS and the airport was covered in just around three-and-a-half minutes the first time and then in 5 minutes the second time. The organs were transported in different boxes on separate flights to Kolkata and Delhi.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Share this article
SHARE
Story Saved
Live Score
OPEN APP
Saved Articles
Following
My Reads
Sign out
New Delhi 0C
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Start 14 Days Free Trial Subscribe Now
Follow Us On