Donating six organs, 29-year-old Arun Raj, in his death, has come to the rescue of seven persons who are either afflicted with terminal stage diseases or disability.
Son of Rajan and Sita of Cherambillil House of Ambedkar Colony, Vengoor, Aluva, Arun was declared brain-dead on Monday morning at Little Flower Hospital, Angamaly, where he was admitted after an accident on Sunday evening.
His heart, kidneys, liver, pancreas, hands and eyes were donated to patients in various hospitals by the Kerala Network of Organ Sharing (KNOS) that coordinates organ donation in the State. Since no match was found for his heart in the State, a 19-year-old patient at Fortis Hospital in Chennai was found as a cross-match for it.
Strategic support
Health Minister K.K. Shylaja and the Mrithasanjeevani team heads coordinated the organ donation with Transtan, the government agency coordinating organ donation in Tamil Nadu, providing strategic support to the hospital team from Chennai.
This is the first time that so many organs have been donated by a person, said a statement by KNOS. This was also the first organ donation in the State this year after the new norms were put in place by the government, said Dr. Noble Ignatius, State coordinator of KNOS. As the family of the young man conveyed the wish to donate organs, donation procedures were followed with government doctors certifying brain death twice in a six-hour gap.
Persuaded by Arun’s friends, the family had agreed to donate all the organs that could be donated. Besides parents, he leaves behind his brother, Akhil Raj, who works abroad.
Working as a ground staff of a private airline, Arun was going to his workplace on Sunday evening riding pillion on his friend’s motorcycle when a car hit the two-wheeler. While his friend escaped with minor injuries, he sustained severe head injuries. One kidney was donated to a patient in Kottayam Medical College. The other kidney, liver, pancreas and both hands were donated to patients in Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences. Eyes were donated to the Eye Bank at Little Flower Hospital.
