TIRUCHY: It was 2.40 pm on Saturday when sirens from two ambulances drowned the city. In no time, the ambulances reached the Tiruchy International Airport using a ‘green corridor’ created for transporting heart, which was later taken in a special chopper waiting at the airport. Thanks to the city police, the ambulances covered the nine-km stretch to the airport in nine minutes flat.
What makes this organ harvesting so different is that for the first time in Tamil Nadu, organ donation was done by a Narikuravar family. The 23-year-old Narikuravar youth was declared brain dead by a private hospital early on Saturday, following an accident.
Tamil Nadu Cadaver Transplant Programme convener Dr J Amalorpavanathan told Express over phone that this was the first organ donation from a person belonging to Narikuravar community.
The donation gesture in itself bears testimony to the fact that awareness on organ donation has reached even the downtrodden.
Officials said Saravanan, son of Ravi of the Narikuravar Colony at Devarayaneri, met with an accident on November 23 on the Tiruchy-Thanjavur Highway and his relatives rushed him to a private hospital. He was shifted to Cethar Hospital in Thillai Nagar on November 24. His health condition deteriorated soon and he was declared brain dead on Saturday.
“After taking the consent of the victim’s relatives, a team of doctors performed organ harvesting around 12 pm on Saturday. The heart was taken to Yashoda Hospital, Hyderabad, while the Cethar Hospital had the liver,” said a hospital staff, adding that eyes were sent to AG Hospital here. Further, two kidneys were given to two private hospitals (ABC and KMC here).
The hospital administration claimed that this was the first such incident, in which the heart was carried to another state from Tiruchy.
“My only son is no more and I am at a loss,” said Ravi, who is involved in the selling of traditional items. Saravanan, who has three sisters, was also part of his business.
Around 20 organs, including three hearts, were harvested in the city this year and many donors voluntarily came in for donation.