BHUBANESWAR: Family members of a 57-year-old woman from Cuttack who was declared brain dead on Wednesday displayed courage and conviction when they agreed to donate her kidneys which eventually saved lives of two persons.
Tanuja Kar, a native of Tarol in Jagatpur, had suffered brain stroke last week and was undergoing treatment at the cardiothoracic and vascular surgery department of SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCB MCH), Cuttack.
She could not be revived despite of all measures and was declared brain dead by doctors of SCB MCH at around 7 pm on Tuesday. Though organ donation remains a difficult choice for many due to socio-psychological reasons in Odisha, Kar’s family members came forward.
“My mother was suffering from hypertension for a long time and suffered brain stroke. Despite all efforts, we could not save her. After she was declared brain dead, we gathered courage to donate her organs so that others could get a second chance in life,” said her son Sambit Kar, an entrepreneur.
Head of Urology department of SCB MCH Dr Samir Swain said a team of 20 doctors was involved in retrieval and transplantation of the kidneys. While the organs were retrieved within an hour by 8 pm, the transplantation took around five hours from 1 am to 6 am.
Once the family expressed its willingness, the SCB authorities initiated process for retrieval of kidneys which were in good condition. The national, regional and state organ and tissue transplant organisation (SOTTO) were immediately intimated. Two recipients having high priority score were selected for the transplant.
Apollo Hospital, Bhubaneswar was roped in for performing laboratory investigations required for the transplantation, sources said. After cross match of donor and recipients, the kidneys were retrieved and transplanted. The process was completed in lightning speed.
Family donates brain dead woman’s kidneys
The recipients - Alok Bodak (36) of Brajarajnagar in Jharsuguda and Saurjya Ranjan Sahoo (48) of CDA in Cuttack are now stable. “It was a challenging job as we had to transplant the cadaveric kidneys on two persons within six hours of harvesting. We did it successfully within the stipulated time. Unlike live donor transplant, patients usually respond late in case of cadaveric transplant. The patients are now responding well,” he said.
State nodal officer SOTTO Prof Umakant Satapathy, who coordinated the entire process, said such cases will inspire and encourage more people to come forward and get themselves registered for organ donation to save more lives. Currently, a whopping 49,745 people are awaiting organ transplants in the country.