Kerala villagers decide to donate organs after death

Cherukulathoor, a nondescript agrarian village in Kozhikode district is grabbing headlines across the world after 1,500 of its inhabitants have taken a pledge that they will donate their organs after death.

They have handed over their consent letters to the officials of the Government Medical College, Kozhikode in the presence of noted dancer and social activist Mallika Sarabhai and Jnanapith winner M T Vasudevan Nair.

After a year-long interaction and public campaign by members of the K P Govindankutty Memorial Library and Reading Room in the village, 1,500 people of a total population of 8000 came forward to donate their organs.

At a meeting on February 12, 2012, it was formally decided to make their village an organ donation-friendly location. They also sought support of the panchayat for the success of the mission.

In fact, the mission is an enlargement of an earlier eye donation campaign by the members.

In 2003, the villagers had decided to donate their eyes after death and nearly 2000 people gave their formal consent to the college authorities and started calling their village “Sampoorna Neethradana Gramam” ( Complete eye-donating village).

The pledge materialised within hours after handing over the letter of consent.

The eyes of the donor woman who died on the day were implanted in a woman recipient near Kozhikode. So far, 100 instances of eye donations have taken place in the village, claimed T M Chandrashekharan, secretary of the library.