Kerala has joined a select band of centres in the country performing multiple organ transplants with a 57-year-old Gulf returnee giving a fresh lease of life to five needy souls. Veeraraghavan who passed away on October 5 of brain haemorrhage in a Kochi hospital had donated his liver, two kidneys and two eyes to five recipients who are doing well 10 days after the surgery. 

“He was brought brain dead to the hospital which is one condition required to conduct a transplant. He had to be put on ventilator. Since his body condition was generally good, his organs were also found to be fit for donation. That was how we put up the matter before aunt (Veeraraghavan’s wife) who readily agreed,’’ Dr Usha, Veeraraghavan’s niece who works in Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), told Deccan Herald.

The doctors contacted the Society for Organ Retrieval and Transplant (SORT) which selected the potential organ recipients. Hamza of Malappuram, 45, who was under treatment for cirrhosis was selected for liver transplant while V P Smitha, 35, a mother of two girls and Siddique, 20, of Kochi were chosen to receive the kidneys. Doctors from the Little Flower Hospital Angamaly received his pair of eyes which were later transplanted on two people who had vision problems. 

The liver and one of the kidneys were removed from Veeraraghavan and transplanted on Hamza and Smitha, respectively, at AIMS after the customary formalities. The other kidney was transplanted on Mr Siddique at Lakeshore Hospital, about 3 kms away.

“The heart could not be transplanted only because we could not find a matching recipient,’’ said Dr S Sudheendran, head of transplantation wings of AIMS. Dr Sudheendran said multiple cadaver transplants had caught up in the country in the last two years and were being performed at an average 20 to 30 transplants a year, mostly in Chennai and Hyderabad. 

According to Justice Narayana Kurup, former chief justice of Madras High court and chairman of SORT, very few people were aware of the value their organs held to so many people who were suffering.  “Of course, making possible multiple transplants like this one is also not easy since several things need to click and connect simultaneously. The fact that Veeraraghavan’s niece and husband were doctors at AIMS helped  a lot,’’ he said.