Chennai :

The relatives of 23-year-old Vaidyalingam were grieving his death. But his liver and kidneys that were donated at least saved three other patients who had organ failure.

Doctors at the Global Hospitals, where Vaidyalingam was brought from Salem, said they used the liver on one of their patients kept on the waitlist and almost simultaneously, another patient in the hospital underwent a kidney transplant. “Both of them are doing well,” a transplant surgeon said.

The other kidney was sent to the Kaliappa Hospital, the eyes were donated to the eye bank at the Sankara Nethralya and the heart valves were stored for future use.

A statement from the hospital said Vaidhyaligam met with an accident on February 27 in Salem and was taken to a private hospital with severe head injury. “He wasn’t wearing a helmet,” the statement said. Doctors at the private hospital referred him to Global Hospitals for treatment. Vaidhyalingam was brought to the Chennai hospital by an ambulance on Friday. The same day, doctors in the intensive care unit declared him brain dead.

When the grief counselor spoke to Vaidhyalingam’s parents about organ donation, they agreed. The hospital then contacted the state cadaver transplant registry for networking among hospitals and the organs were transplanted. The registry has recovered organs from more than 300 brain dead people in the last five years.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Chennai / TNN / March 03rd, 2013