Brain dead man donates organs, gives new lease of life to 3 patients

Fortis Hospital facilitated a rare lung retrieval in the region, following a multi-organ donation from a 69-year-old donor. The organs retrieved from the brain-dead donor — two lungs, one liver and two kidneys - gave second life to critically ill patients across Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi-NCR.

The donor, a resident of Jalandhar, had sustained a severe head injury following an accident after being hit by a two-wheeler. Despite best medical efforts, he was declared brain dead. In a profound act of generosity, his family consented to donate his organs, giving multiple recipients a second chance at life.

Under the coordinated efforts of the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO), lungs were transplanted into a 54-year-old man suffering from end-stage lung disease at Artemis Hospital, Gurugram. Liver was allocated to Dayanand Medical College (DMC) Hospital, Ludhiana, and transplanted into a 58-year-old man suffering chronic liver disease. Both kidneys were transplanted into a 25-year-old youth suffering from permanent kidney failure and uncontrolled hypertension.

To meet the critical time-sensitive requirements of transplant logistics, the district administration and the traffic police activated two green corridors simultaneously. One corridor was created from Fortis Jalandhar to DMC Ludhiana for a distance of approximately 70 km covered by road in nearly one hour. The second one was from Fortis, Jalandhar, to the Amritsar airport, for airlifting lungs to the IGI Airport, Delhi, and onward to Artemis Hospital, Gurugram (covering approximately 80 km.

This high-precision coordination ensured that harvested organs reached recipient centres within optimal clinical time window, enabling successful transplantations. This complex multi-organ retrieval and transplant involved the combined expertise of the nephrology and transplant team — Dr Rajeev Bhatia, Dr Ajay Marwaha, Dr Onkar Singh and Dr Harpreet Singh; neurosurgery, anaesthesia and critical care team comprising Dr Tushar Arora, Dr Shubha Sharma, Dr Sheetal Garg, Dr Radhika Dhawan, Dr Pardeep Dhillon and Dr Jaspreet Kaur; and Dr Sunita, consultant anaesthesia and critical care, Dr Shweta Bharadwaj, psychologist, and Manpreet Raju, transplant coordinator.

Dr Rajeev Bhatia, director and senior consultant, nephrology, Fortis Hospital, said, “Facilitating a multi-organ donation, including the first-ever lung retrieval in the city, reflects the growing capabilities of our medical ecosystem. The donor family’s courageous decision has given a second chance at life to multiple patients.” — TNS