Organs of brain dead man save three lives in Delhi

The organs of a 40-year-old patient who died after an accident saved three lives in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Parmanad Arya, who hailed from Haldwani in Uttarakhand, lived in Delhi’s Khanpur area with his wife and three children. He eked out living as a tailor. 

On August 11, Arya went to a nearby shop when he was hit by a bus in Khanpur area. The patient was rushed to Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre, AIIMS. His condition deteriorated in the next two days.

“On August 13, the doctors declared the patient brain dead. The family was briefed by the doctors. We held around four counselling sessions with the family members of the patient. The family agreed to donate the organ and tissue of the 40-year-old,” said Rajeev Maikhuri, Transplant Coordinator, AIIMS. The patient was declared brain dead at 2:30 pm and the second at 9:30 pm.

The liver went to a 45-year-old patient who needed an immediate transplant. Since the family agreed to Arya’s multi-organ donation, his two kidneys went to two patients in AIIMS.
“One kidney went to the paediatric ward where a child underwent a transplant and the other went to an adult,” said Maikhuri.

Heart valves preserved
Even though the family consented to heart donation, a heart transplant could not be carried out.
“We tried to contact several hospitals, including from neighbouring states Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. But a suitable recipient belonging to the blood group A+ could not be found. So we decided to preserve the heart valves,” said an AIIMS official.

This is the second cadaver donation received by the AIIMS in August.
Even though more families of patients are now agreeing to donate the deceased’s organs, more organ donations are required, according to doctors.

In this case, one of the major challenges faced by the hospital was the family refused to give consent for organ donation if the organs were sent to private hospital for transplant.