New Delhi: The death of Indian Air Force Corporal Sachin (who went by his first name) last week left a void that his family will perhaps never be able to fill, but his tragic demise has given a new lease of life to several others.
Sachin’s organs, including his heart, liver, lungs, kidneys and corneas, have helped save the lives of many.
The 27-year-old personnel was brought to the Army Hospital- Research and Referral (ARHH) in New Delhi on 12 December after sustaining a massive head injury, said defence sources. Despite all efforts, the young corporal could not be saved and was declared brain dead on 14 December.
His newly-married wife Manisha and parents consented to donating his organs. While his lungs were allocated to Medanta Mediclinic in New Delhi, one kidney and both corneas were utilised at the Army hospital. These organs were successfully transplanted, said sources.
ARHH scripts heart-warming tales
The ARHH has performed nine heart, four liver and multiple kidney transplants this year.
According to official data, the revival of public hospitals have increased organ donations and transplantation programmes in New Delhi. The ARHH and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, have restarted deceased donation and transplantation programmes. The Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, meanwhile, has restarted heart transplant surgeries, ANI reported.
ARHH sources also said an average of about six to seven cases of organ donation takes place every year at the facility. Sources also said that in India, organ donation of only brain dead people is allowed. In cases of deaths due to heart attack, only eyes are allowed to be donated.
Creating awareness on organ donation
India has recently seen an increase in organ donations, campaigns and efforts to educate the masses on the same. During the nationwide lockdown, India’s organ donation rates had suffered a massive blow.
Dr Vijil Rahulan, additional director and chief transplant pulmonologist at Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) in Hyderabad, told ThePrint in 2020, “(Overall) we have seen a 70 per cent drop in the number of organ donors. And with the Covid virus infecting people’s lungs, we have seen an increase in the number of potential recipients and a drop in the number of donors”.
In an effort to dispel myths and fears about organ and tissue donation, the Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation (ORBO) conducted awareness camps as well as mass organ and tissue pledging campaigns, a statement released by the AIIMS last month noted.
The ORBO, in collaboration with the Border Security Force (BSF), had also organised a mass pledging campaign for serving personnel throughout 2021-2022.
India ranks third in the world on the Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation website, ranking behind the US and China. In his address on the occasion of the Indian Organ Donation Day on 27 November, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Mansukh Mandaviya, had said that the total number of organ transplants performed every year in India has increased from 4,990 in 2013 to 12,746 in 2019.
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