CHANDIGARH: An Army Aviation Squadron of the Western Command airlifted a donated kidney from the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) at Rohtak to the Command Hospital at Chandimandir, saving the life of a serving soldier.
Western Command wrote on X, "Racing against time, the mission was executed with precision and seamless coordination, enabling a team of doctors at the Command Hospital, Chandimandir to successfully transplant a kidney and save the life,’’ the post read.
The mission was facilitated by the civil administration through a secure green corridor, ensuring swift and uninterrupted movement of the donated organ.
The post concluded, "At the heart of this life-saving effort was the selfless decision of the donor’s family, transforming profound loss into hope and giving a soldier a second chance at life. A precious gift. A mission against time. A life renewed.’’
Command Hospital has been regularly undertaking organ transplant procedures.
Last week, the family of Sanju Gurjar, a 30-year-old wife of a serving soldier and daughter of a veteran soldier, donated her organs after she was declared brain-stem dead at Command Hospital, Western Command, Chandimandir, following a brain haemorrhage.
Her family consented to organ donation, giving critically ill patients a renewed chance at life. Specialist medical teams from military and civilian hospitals retrieved her organs, which were allocated to different medical institutions.
Her liver was sent to Army Hospital (Research and Referral), New Delhi; her heart to Fortis Hospital, Noida; one kidney to PGIMS, Rohtak; while the second kidney and corneas were retained at Command Hospital, Western Command, for transplantation.
A few weeks ago, the family of a junior commissioned officer who was declared brain dead after suffering a brain stroke while deployed at 16,000 feet in Ladakh donated his organs, giving a fresh lease of life to six critically ill persons across the country.
The donation also marked the hospital’s first lung retrieval procedure.
In May this year, the transplant team of the command hospital carried out its first heart retrieval procedure, successfully harvesting the heart of a brain-dead donor.
The organ was then airlifted to Delhi in 30 minutes to save the life of a critically ill 14-year-old Sudanese boy undergoing treatment at a hospital in the National Capital.
In June 2024, the hospital also achieved a first for an Armed Forces medical institution by successfully harvesting the pancreas from a brain-dead serving soldier of the Punjab Regiment, after his father consented to the donation.
The Western Command Hospital has previously performed several organ retrieval and transplant procedures, providing a new lease of life to critically ill patients through the harvesting of kidneys, liver and heart from brain-dead donors.
Organ donation was started in the Armed Forces in the late 2000s and introduced at Western Command Hospital in 2014. The process is coordinated by the Armed Forces Organ Retrieval and Transplantation Authority in New Delhi.
The Western Command Hospital in Chandimandir is a pioneering Armed Forces medical centre in the region for organ retrieval and transplantation.
In recognition of its work, the facility was conferred the Best Emerging National Organ Transplant Retrieval Centre award by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
