Thirty-five years ago many patients used to buy blood because of a shortage of voluntary donors. Today, nearly all the blood used across India is received as replacement blood from relatives and as altruistic donations.
More than half a million Indians are estimated to be in dire need of an organ transplant-kidney, liver, heart, pancreas and so on. Yet, less than a thousand transplants are performed each year. The rest usually die waiting for an organ as there aren't enough donors.
Multi-organ Harvesting Aid Network (MOHAN) Foundation has organised its first-ever four-day transplant coordinators training programme at Aayush Hospitals in the city Monday. Addressing the participants, MOHAN Foundation country director Lalitha Raghuram said that organ transplantation is one of the greatest advancements of modern technology, which results in patients getting renewed lease of life.
The Transplant Coordinators Training Programme being held here for the first time is a unique opportunity for nurses, medical social workers and other health care professionals who want to upgrade their knowledge, said MOHAN (Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network) Foundation country director Lalitha Raghuram. MOHAN Foundation chief advisor K. Raghuram inaugurated the training programme held at Aayush Hospital here on Monday.
After Monday's dramatic 'green corridor' enabled quick transport of a human heart from the Government General Hospital to save the life of a 21-year-old woman in a corporate hospital, some activists have cried foul that the recipient hospital had invited media attention to gain publicity. The incident has also triggered a debate among doctors if the names of donors and recipients should be disclosed.
While a heart was being transported in an ambulance through a "green corridor" to save the life of a young woman on Monday, a middle-aged woman sat sobbing on a bench at the Government General Hospital in Chennai. Behind the high-octane operation that moved the organ between two hospitals, 12km apart, in a little more than 13 minutes was this woman's loss and courage: Her 27-year-old son had died in a road accident and she had consented to donate his organs.
When it's more common to read reports of people losing their lives because of their inability to reach the hospital on time because of VIP traffic restrictions, here is a heart-warming story of traffic coming to a halt in Chennai to save the life of an ordinary patient.
On Monday evening, at 6.45 p.m., a green corridor was created to transport a heart from Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital to Fortis Malar Hospitals in Adyar. With a patrol vehicle leading the ambulance, it took 13 minutes 22 seconds, four minutes longer than the planned nine, to transport the vital organ, across 16 traffic signals through Kamaraj Salai.
At 73, J Sumitha was paralyzed by radiation given to treat tongue cancer. She knew she was nearing a point of no return. She filled in an online form to donate her organs on April 8. On Friday, minutes after she died at home, doctors harvested her eyes and skin. Her body was returned to the family because her organs weren't suitable for transplant.
In a first of sorts in the city, the skin and eyes of a 73-year-old woman were harvested on Friday evening. The organs were donated following an online pledge made by the donor. J. Sumitha, a resident of Vettuvankeni, had been ill for some time. Last year, she got in touch with us and pledged her organs on our website.
