Grief to hope: Organ donation gains pace
You are gone from this world, but even after death you have given a new lease of life to another person. This noble act of organ donation is not much talked about, but is something that is more important than people realise. There are thousands of patients waiting every day for an organ transplant, but only keep waiting due to the lack of donors and the long list of recipients.
However, Ludhiana has finally started taking baby steps in this direction. On December 13 last year the moment of grief for one family turned into a beacon of hope for five other families after a 56-year-old patient, Sunita, admitted to the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), was declared brain dead and her family took the courageous decision of donating her organs. The liver of the deceased was transplanted at the DMCH by an in-house liver transplant team to a patient battling cirrhosis and both kidneys were shifted to two private hospitals through a green corridor, while both corneas were preserved in the corneal bank to restore vision of two individuals in need. Sunita’s son Nitish Sharma said that he had always seen his mother helping others and even after her death, she gave a new lease of life to others.
“We were given an option about organ donation and I thought about my mother, how she always took initiatives to help others during her entire life. Once this thought entered my mind, we made an immediate decision of donating her organs. We are happy that even after her death, our mother has been able to help others,” said Nitish.
On January 25 this year, another in-house cadaveric multi-organ transplant was performed here. It was possible when the family of a 54-year-old brain-dead male patient from Faridkot, who was admitted to the DMCH, consented to donate five of his organs. The patient’s liver, kidneys and corneas were allocated by the State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTTO). The liver and a kidney were transplanted at the DMCH to two patients, while the second kidney was allocated to another hospital in the state. The eyes were donated to the medical college in Faridkot. The DMCH has already done eight liver transplants in a span of 2 months. Out of these eight transplants, three were done from cadaveric or brain-dead donors whereas five patients got part of the new liver from their family members.
Jammu-based Neera Rajput’s husband Davinder’s liver transplant was through cadaveric donation. “We will be thankful throughout our lives for the person who donated the liver. As the blood group from the family was not matching so no one from the family was able to donate liver and then a messiah came and the life of my husband was saved,” she shares.
A Jabalpur-based couple, Vikas Dahiya and Alka, going emotional said, “We are forever indebted to this selfless act. Words fail to express our gratitude and can’t describe how thankful we are for this act of kindness. All roads were appearing dark and then we got a news that my husband’s liver transplant will be possible through cadaveric donation,” said Vikas Dahiya.
Organ donation is something that should be taught in schools, feels the Principal of Dayanand Medical College, Dr Gupreet S Wander. He said, “There is persistent shortage of organs and in my opinion, the knowledge about organ donation should be imparted to schoolchildren as it is crucial to raise awareness about this life-saving practice, educate people about the process and encourage potential donors.” State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation nodal officer Dr Gagneen Kaur Sandhu said slowly and slowly, the topic of organ donation is now being talked about. In 2024, there were 10 cadaveric donations in Punjab, out of which one was from DMCH, Ludhiana. In January this year, one cadaveric donation was done at DMCH, thanks to the awareness created by the hospital.
