Gopal’s gone, but will live on in four persons

Nagpur: It was a grim tragedy for the family when 17-year-old Gopal Kathalkar died on Wednesday following a road accident. However, the magnanimity shown by his family in grief has already given life to two persons. His kidneys were transplanted in two patients on Wednesday at Wockhardt Hospital and Orange City Hospital and Research Institute (OCHRI) after he was declared brain dead following five days of treatment.Not just that, he would light up two more lives once his eyes are transplanted in two blind persons.
“We may have lost our only son. But he will continue to live in the body of persons who receive his organs. We didn’t hesitate in deciding on donating his eyes and kidneys as that is the best we could do to keep him alive. This way we could also give happiness to some other families,” said Vijay Kathalkar, Gopal’s father, an educationist who runs schools and colleges in Salwa in Mauda.
Gopal met with an accident on February 19 night and was admitted to Wockhardt hospital since then. Dr Ajay Kurve, neurosurgeon who operated on him to remove blood clot in his brain, told TOI that despite the surgery his condition worsened due to multiple head injuries. He was brought to hospital in comatose condition. He was declared brain-dead on Tuesday morning.
The two kidneys were retrieved at Wockhardt Hospital. One was sent for a 65 year old wait-listed patient at OCHRI. Another 40-year-old patient received the other kidney at Wockhardt itself. The two cadaveric transplants happened on Wednesday after a gap of 11 months in the city in the two hospitals giving a new lease of life to the two patients.
Dr Sanjay Kolte, urosurgeon who performed the transplant at Wockhardt was extremely thankful and impressed by the apt decision of Dr Gauri Rathod, nodal officer Maharashtra for transplant, who gave the hospital instant permission for conducting the procedure as the hospital is yet to get its licence renewed for the transplant. “You really need officials like her. We would have otherwise wasted the organ,” he said. The other team members included Dr Surajit Hazra and Dr Jitendra Hazare, surgeons and Dr Suryashri Pande, nephrologist.
The OCHRI patient has undergone kidney transplant the second time. He had received a kidney in 1998-99 which too had become non-functional about 2-3 years ago. The patient was on dialysis since then. Medically he is an example as his body at present has two original kidneys and two transplanted kidneys. He has also undergone angioplasties and has two stents. Dr Rajesh Soni, the operating urosurgeon, told TOI this patient was in wait-list for a long time. “Generally, we need to put a heart patient off blood thinners before surgery. But there was no time for that. Yet the patient responded very well and has passed urine already,” said Dr Soni.
The OCHRI team comprised Dr S J Acharya, nephrologist, Dr Sandeep Deshmukh, urosurgeon, and Dr Rohit Gupta, vascular surgeon.
Timely permission allowed procedure
A lot of credit for these two transplants also goes to Dr Gauri Rathod, nodal officer Maharashtra for transplant, department of public health at Mumbai. Had it not been for her, the organs couldn’t have been retrieved at Wockhardt Hospital. Neither could the doctors perform a transplant there as the hospital is still awaiting its licence renewal for transplant from the department. “It was just a question of some paper work. The required inspection at Wockhardt had been done and there were no compliance problems. So I immediately gave a one time permission for this transplant. We should be promoting organ donation and transplant and not be a hurdle in the process,” Dr Rathod told TOI.