Nagpur: Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGGMCH) conducted its first ever organ retrieval on Thursday after getting the Non-Transplant Organ Retrieval Centre (NTORC) permission on March 14 this year, thanks to pro-active efforts of the college’s forensic medicine head Dr Makrand Vyawahare.
A liver, two kidneys and two corneas were retrieved from a 46-year-old accident victim. The liver went to New Era Hospital, the kidneys, one each to Orange City Hospital and Research Institute (OCHRI) and CARE Hospital and the two corneas went to the IGGMCH’s eye bank as per allocations made by the Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee.
The 46-year-old donor, Ram Kakumal Khilnani, was admitted to IGGMCH following a head injury after an accident on July 20. He was declared brain dead on Wednesday evening and the organ retrieval was done on Thursday. The team which declared the patient brain dead comprised college dean Dr A Keoliya, Dr SM Lanjewar and Dr Nanda Gawali from surgery and Dr Vaishali Shelgaonkar from anaesthesia.
“This is a big achievement for the college. The victim’s wife readily agreed for organ donation after some counselling. Khilnani’s wife Simran gave the consent first and her brother Girish Chhabrani and the patient’s brother Thakur Kakumal supported her. The family doesn’t want to cremate the body due to lunar eclipse today so I am ensuring that the body is properly kept in mortuary till tomorrow,” said Dr Vyawahare.
Dr Vyawahare, who was instrumental in getting NTORC for IGGMCH, said that the hospital must be getting one or two patients daily of brain deaths but they are not notified. “We will try to keep a watch on this aspect to get as many retrievals as possible,” he said.
Dr Rahul Saxena and Dr Somnath Chattopadhyay, liver surgeons from New Era Hospital conducted the transplant on a 60-year-old man from Jamshedpur who was registered at Nagpur also. He was being treated by Dr Prakash Khetan, nephrologist at CARE. The liver was earlier retrieved at IGGMCH by Dr Chattopadhyay. “The patient was very sick due to chronic diabetes and high blood pressure. He had non-alcoholic fatty liver disease,” said Dr Saxena.
One kidney was transplanted at OCHRI in a 42-year-old lady recipient. The retrieval team consisted of Dr Prakash Khetan and urologist Dr Sandeep Deshmukh. The transplant was conducted by urologist Dr Suhas Salpekar, vascular surgeon Dr Rohit Gupta and backed by anaesthetist Dr Neeta Deshpande. Transplant coordinator Manjiri Damle pursued the formalities and coordinated with ZTCC.
The other kidney was transplanted on a 32-year-old woman from Arvi by Dr Ravi Deshmukh at CARE Hospital. It was harvested by Dr Sandeep Deshmukh. This patient was also being treated by Dr Khetan.
