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(Every year on August 13 we celebrate Organ Donation Day in India to raise awareness about the cause and help people pledge their organs for donation.)
In July 2017, Kartik (name changed), a 25-year-old young man from Chennai was in a road accident in Delhi. He was rushed immediately to the nearby Fortis hospital in Vasant Kunj.
He was declared clinically brain dead– meaning he was no longer alive and could not be revived, even though his heart was beating, pumping blood to keep his organs alive.
When a patient is declared brain dead, time becomes crucial. Families are first informed, their grief is shared and counselors and doctors present to them the option of organ donation.
Dr Sood says Kartik’s family showed exemplary courage.
Once the family gives its permission, the process for retrieval begins. The first step is to notify the National Organ Transplant and Tissue Organisation, a national registry that decides which organ will go to whom.
As per policy, the hospital where the brain dead patient is admitted gets priority. The chosen hospitals call in the recipients, prepare them and arrange for tests to ensure a match. Simultaneously, a no-objection certificate is obtained from the police.
Till this point, the brain dead patient is maintained in the ICU and his organs are kept viable with machines. Then, transplant teams from recipient hospitals arrive.
The heart usually lasts for four hours– it gets priority. The blood vessels are first disconnected, the heart arteries are pumped with a cold solution, the heart is put in a bag on ice.
Is the ice box carrying cola? Chilled Beer? Nope, this picnic box is carrying the most precious cargo – the heart.
Once the heart is placed in the ice box, it must be transplanted into the patient in the shortest possible time. The transplant team carrying the heart rushes to the waiting ambulance that makes its way to the recipient hospital via what is called a green corridor.
Rush, rush. The clock ticks. At the recipient hospital, the transplant team waits, the recipient is on the table, ready to receive the heart.
Inside the hospital, another internal green corridor ensures that the icebox is delivered without any delay. In this case, Kartik’s heart gave a new lease of life to another 24-year-old young man suffering from a rare heart condition.
Outside the body, each organ has a life of its own.
Kartik saved five lives. While his heart now beats in the body of a 24-year-old, his two kidneys went to patients at Fortis, Vasant Kunj and BLK Hospital. His liver went to a patient at Gangaram Hospital. His corneas were sent to All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
Organ donation awareness continues to be at a nascent stage in India. Over five lakh patients are waiting for an organ donor. In 2016, there were less than 750 cadaver transplants.
Camera: Athar Rather
Editor: Prashant Chauhan
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Published: 13 Aug 2017,09:20 AM IST