In the last six years, 530 families have come forward to donate organs in Tamil Nadu, despite their moments of grief, a top official of the cadaver transplant programme in the state said here on Saturday. While many of them are from humble backgrounds and had not even heard of organ donation earlier, it was their large heartedness which made them offer this help, Dr Amolorpavanathn, Coordinator of the programme said.
Unlike in western countries, obesity has never been a cause of concern for the people of India. Surprisingly, fatty liver is emerging as one of the primary causes of liver cirrhosis in the country. In the years to come, it will be the primary cause of liver cirrhosis in Kerala too, where the primary cause now is alcoholism, said Dr Christopher Barry, associate professor, Division of Solid Organ transplant and Hepatobiliary Surgery, University of Rochester, New York.
Life simply doesn’t end after death, especially if we help someone survive with a part of us left lovingly behind, so that he or she could lead life a little longer. Organ donation, perhaps, is not a new concept. In mythology, we have examples that organ donation was prevalent even then.
The organ transplant network in Tamil Nadu was ten times more effective than the system being followed in the rest of India, said Christopher Barry, a liver transplant surgeon from New York, who is working with the Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network (MOHAN) Foundation, here on Saturday.
This walkathon aimed at creating awareness on organ transplant is quite different, as it is being undertaken by a beneficiary himself. Kovvuru Ramesh Reddy, Chairman of Kovvuru Foundation, has embarked on a 215-km ‘padayatra’ from Proddatur in Kadapa district to the temple city of Tirupati to spread the message on organ transplant.
Over 3,300 Mindtree employees have "chosen their good" and are associating themselves with activities that also include donation of old clothes/toys/books, distribution of solar lanterns, caring for the elderly, and cleaning up the city.The do-gooders have identified a crusader for each of the causes, internally called individual social responsibility (ISR) champions whose responsibility is to muster support from socially conscious employees.
At 5 a.m. on Sunday morning, the route leading from Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital to Apollo Hospital on Greams Road was cleared to transport a heart and lung from a brain dead patient for transplantation.
Ramesh, a 22-year-old young man, was a migrant worker from Andhra Pradesh. He had come to Chennai with wife Kalarani in search of work. Kalarani was only 17 and they had married a year back. They found work at a con struction site on a daily wage and set up home on a pavement. On the night of July 12, 2010, it was pouring and the couple was looking for shelter. They decided to spend the night at a partially constructed building. As they entered the structure, a heavy piece of masonry fell on Ramesh's head.
Almost three years after the 2011 amendment to the Transplantation of Organs Act, 1994, which mandated various kinds of registries to track the organ transplantation system, the idea of a national registry is yet to take off. The rules to implement the amendments were framed in March this year.
Frenchwoman Marie Therese Hampart Zoumain and husband Henri were visiting their son, Sebestien, who works for a Gurgaon MNC and lives in Delhi. The family travelled extensively, visiting places like Jaipur and Agra. Little did anyone know that Marie's India trip would take such a turn. This March 13, an unconscious Marie was wheeled into Max Hospital.
