Brain-dead Army man gives new lease of live to 3 people through organ donation

Chandigarh, May 15

A retired junior commissioned officer (JCO) from the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles, who passed away on Tuesday, has given a fresh lease of life to three persons through organ donation.

The 70-year old JCO suffered a brain stroke and was declared brain dead at the Western Command Hospital, Chandimandir. His family consented to donate his vital organs.

In a marathon midnight surgery, the organ transplant team of the hospital harvested his liver, kidneys and cornea.

A green corridor was established and the organs were airlifted immediately by the Air Force to the Army’s Research and Referral Hospital in New Delhi, where these were successfully transplanted in three terminally ill persons.

In the past, the Western Command Hospital has performed several organ harvesting and transplant operations, providing a new lease of life to critically ill persons.

Organ donation was started in the armed forces in the late 2000s and introduced at the Western Command Hospital in 2014. The process is coordinated by the Armed Forces Organ Retrieval and Transplantation Authority in New Delhi.

Several other military hospitals across the country have also performed similar life-saving operations.