Himachal Pradesh teen gives new lease of life to 2 at PGI

Chandigarh, February 15

A donor family from Himachal Pradesh has saved the lives of two terminally ill patients suffering from end-stage renal failure through kidney transplant at the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGI).

The family consented to donate the organs of their deceased teenage for transplant after coordinators at the PGI impressed upon them the importance of organ donation.

The donor was a road accident victim, who was declared brain dead on February 10. Following the family’s consent, the surgeons retrieved the kidneys from the donor for transplantation to the matching recipients.

The two recipients were suffering from end-stage debilitating kidney ailments and had been dependent on dialysis for a long time.

Prof Vivek Lal, PGI Director, expressed gratitude to the donor family and said: “Every donation is a reiteration of faith and continuation of life. It is the exemplary courage of the donor families like this one from Himachal that sustains the deceased donation programme.”

The grief-stricken father of the teenage donor, who wanted to keep his identity anonymous, said: “It’s something no family should have to go through. We agreed to organ donation because we knew this could help someone else, and they wouldn’t need to go through the heartache that we are going through. We knew it was the right thing to do.”

Prof Vipin Koushal, Medical Superintendent, PGI, and nodal officer, ROTTO (North), sharing his perspective on the cadaver organ donation programme said: “The demand for organ transplant has increased in the recent past. This is largely due to improvement in post-transplant outcomes. It is now an effective method to cure many terminally ill patients.”

Recipients had kidney ailments

• Donor met with a road accident and was declared brain dead on February 10
• After family’s consent, surgeons retrieved kidneys from donor for transplant
• Two matching recipients were suffering from end-stage kidney ailments