CHENNAI: A baby boy aged one year and seven months became Tamil Nadu’s youngest deceased organ donor after his parents consented to donate his organs, giving a new lease of life to an adult and two toddlers on Monday.
According to a release from Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH), the boy had been undergoing treatment in the intensive care unit for six days for hydrocephalus, a condition in which cerebrospinal fluid accumulates in the brain.
Despite treatment, his condition did not improve. Dr R Raghavendran, director of the Institute of Neurosurgery at RGGGH, said the child suffered irreversible brain damage and was declared brain dead on Sunday.
Both his kidneys were donated to a woman in her twenties admitted at a private hospital in Chennai. As the recipient weighed below 40 kg, it was possible to transplant the kidneys. The boy’s liver was donated to an ailing toddler at a private hospital in Chennai, and his heart was transported to a private hospital in Coimbatore for another toddler, sources said.
Hospital authorities said the previous youngest donor was also at RGGGH, a one-year-and-eight-month-old baby.