Relatives of liver recipient thank Chief Minister

A day after the cadaver liver transplant was successfully performed by a city hospital giving 

a new lease of life to a 46-year-old Madhuri Saha, her family members on Wednesday expressed their gratitude to the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the state health department for opening 

up new horizons by allowing multiple organ cadaver donation in Kolkata.

The state government’s brain death declaration committee had met on Tuesday to look into whether the case met all necessary criteria before giving the final nod to transplant organs from Samar Chakraborty (53), who was declared brain dead by the doctors in the hospital.

This was, however, the second case of multiple organ cadaver transplantation in the city that took place in the last month. Chakraborty, had been brought to Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata on 

Tuesday where he was declared ‘brain dead’ by a panel comprising doctors from the hospital and the state health department.

His family members had consented to donate various organs from the patient and after the completion of the necessary formalities, his liver and corneas were harvested for transplantation.

Chakraborty was earlier brought to the hospital for dialysis as his kidneys were not functioning properly. The patient had suffered a cerebral attack at the hospital following which the doctors found him brain dead.

Dr Anand Kakkar, a expert doctor was flown in the city from Chennai for performing the liver transplantation. A team of doctors transplanted the liver to 46-year-old Madhuri Saha, a patient of several liver ailments who had been advised to undergo a transplant at the earliest.

A team of eye surgeons from Disha Eye Hospital have retrieved the donor’s corneas on Tuesday and the details of the recipients will be communicated by them to the relevant government authorities.

Dr Mahesh Kumar Goenka, member of the operating team said: “We have successfully harvested and transplanted the liver through a surgical procedure that took about 10 hours. “The recipient has been doing fine till now, but would need to remain under observation and treatment for about a fortnight before we can confirm the prognosis. If the results are found to be as expected, this will be the first instance of a successful cadaver liver transplant in entire Eastern India,” Goenka said.

Dr Rupali Basu, President and CEO ER, Apollo Hospitals Group, India, observed: “As the pioneers of world-class medical services in this part of the country, we feel proud at the achievement of our team of doctors, and are confident of their success.

“We are also grateful for the prompt support extended by the different government departments in facilitating and expediting this process, and would honour and salute the social responsibility and courage exhibited by Chakraborty’s family,” Basu added.

It may be mentioned here that the corneas, kidneys and liver of Sovana Sarkar were extracted last month to give new life to at least four other persons, which was the first multiple organ 

transplantation in the city.