Daughters ensure father's organs save a life

When Padmnabh S Somajayi, 72, was declared brain dead at a local private hospital after a road accident on Sunday, his three daughters took the initiative to ensure that their father's organs would save another life. The ladies approached the Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee (ZTCC) and informed them about their willingness to donate his organs.

The ZTCC then contacted authorities at the Wockhardt Hospital in Mira Road, which was the nearest registered organ retrieval centre to where the donor was.

"After the call, we sent a team to shift the donor to our hospital. We had to first start the process of declaring the patient brain dead. We also had to conduct preliminary tests. As he was comatose since Sunday, infection started spreading through his body," said Ravi Hirwani, Head, Wockhardt Hospital.

While the family had given their consent to donate Somajayi's heart, kidneys, corneas and liver, only the liver could be retrieved as the infection had spread. The patient's history of hypertension and diabetes prevented the retrieval of heart as well. The healthy liver went to a patient at Parel's Global Hospital. The entire retrieval process was completed by Tuesday, following which the body was handed over to the family for the last rites. The cadaveric donation was the first in Mumbai in the new year. In 2016, the city witnessed 58 cadaveric donations, of which 184 organs were harvested — the city's highest total yet. Mumbai currently has around 170 patients on the waiting list for a liver.