3-yr-old becomes youngest organ donor

Scripting a new chapter in the history of organ donation in Kerala, parents of a three-year-old girl who was declared brain-dead here on Saturday, donated her liver, kidneys and corneas.

Late on Sunday, the liver and kidneys were being transplanted into a five-year-old boy at a hospital here.

Three-year-old Anjana, a resident of Enikkara here, has become the youngest organ donor in the state. The child who had collapsed at her home on Thursday was declared brain-dead at the Sri Avittom Tirunal (SAT) Hospital here on Saturday. Following consent from Anjana’s parents, the Kerala Network of Organ Sharing (KNOS) coordinated harvesting of the organs late on Saturday night.

“A patient who needed the organs had registered with us as a prospective beneficiary. Harvesting was initiated soon after securing consent from the deceased child’s parents,” a KNOS official told Deccan Herald.

The organ transplantation surgery on the receiver – a five-year-old boy – commenced by Sunday afternoon and was continuing at the Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences here till late on Sunday.

KIMS sources said the condition of the boy and other details of progress made in the surgery would be made available only on Monday. “The surgery is going on. It’s a multi-organ transplantation and it will take time. The hospital will release a formal bulletin in this connection tomorrow,” a spokesperson of the hospital said.