BENGALURU: A 51-year-old man gave a new lease of life to six people in his death. Umesh B Dandagi suffered a serious head injury after an accidental fall.
He underwent craniotomy (surgical removal of part of the bone from the skull to expose the brain for surgery) on the same day at KLES Hospital in Belagavi. Dandagi was declared brain dead on March 16, despite all efforts to save his life.
As per organ donation protocol, officials from ‘Jeevasar-thakathe’, earlier known as ZCCK, initiated the process for organ donation and took written consent from his family members.
The recipients were selected as per the waiting list, and his organs were harvested. Jeevasarthakathe is a government body which oversees cadaver organ donation in Karnataka.
Dandagi’s heart was transplanted into a patient at KLES Hospital, and his kidneys were sent to SDM Hospital in Dharwad and Tatwadarsha Hospital in Hubballi through a green corridor. His corneas and skin were donated to the KLE eye bank and skin bank.
His liver was airlifted within hours to Bengaluru, from Belagavi airport.
To ensure that no time was lost in transportation, Bengaluru Traffic Police created a ‘green corridor’ from Kempegowda International Airport to Sparsh Hospital, RR Nagar, where the liver was successfully transplanted into a patient.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Bengaluru City, BR Ravikanthe Gowda, said they had received a request from Sparsh Hospital for creating traffic-free passage to transport a donated organ which was airlifted from Belagavi.