Swarna’s organs transplanted on three recipients in Bangalore
Brain-dead girl lives on, giving others a new lease of life
The organs of Swarna Jaswanth, 20, who was declared brain-dead, were successfully transplanted on three recipients on Sunday night.
The liver was transplanted on a patient at BGS Global Hospital, one kidney on a patient at Manipal Hospital and the other on a patient at St John’s Medical Hospital.
The heart valves were harvested and taken to the Narayana Hrudayalaya, where they will be preserved and used on needy patients. The corneas were retrieved and taken to Lions Eye Bank. The heart was retained, since there was no recipient available.
The entire co-ordination with the donor’s hospital and recipients’ hospitals was done by Zonal Coordination Committee of Karnataka for Transplantation (ZCCK), the government agency which takes care of counselling and cadaver transplants.
According to a ZCCK counsellor, the entire cadaver transplantation went off smoothly since the donor’s family readily agreed to organ retrieval and gave enough time for the doctors to harvest and transplant the organs successfully. The counsellor, who has conducted many counselling sessions, said the awareness level on organ transplantation is very low in Bangalore.
“Many families do not agree for organ retrieval for their own reasons. Even if the family agrees, they want the entire organ retrieval procedure to be conducted quickly. It is not possible to conduct cadaver transplants in a time frame,” added the counsellor.
After the organ retrieval, Swarna’s body was taken to Victoria Hospital for a post-mortem. Later, her body was taken to Mangalore for the last rites.
College clarifies
Meanwhile, MM Kariappa, chairman of Vogue College of Fashion Technology, said he was not absconding as alleged by the parents of some of the students, but was not receiving any calls from unknown numbers as there was a threat to his life, due to protests by some groups.
“I was constantly in touch with the doctors of Columbia Asia Hospital and have visited the hospital twice to ensure the best of medical treatment for the injured student. Financial assistance was also offered.
I was constantly in touch with the principal and the other staff members of the institution all along, monitoring the situation. However, the agitation by the students took a violent turn leading to law and order problem. A few anti-social elements joined in, intending to take advantage of the situation. At this point of time, since there was a serious threat to my life, I was forced to keep myself away from unknown callers,” he added.
Kariappa said he even spoke to Hemalatha, Swarna’s mother, on Sunday and expressed his deep sorrow and condolences. He said he ensured that the principal and other staff members visited the hospital on a regular basis during the past 11 days.
