Kolkata: The SSKM Hospital in the city on Monday successfully retrieved the heart, two kidneys and the liver from a 20-year-old youth, who was earlier declared brain dead.
The heart has been taken to Calcutta Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) through a 'green corridor', where the doctors performed heart transplant on a 47-year-old patient from Baguiati. Sujay Karmakar (20), a resident of Kanchrapara in North 24-Parganas and a second year college student, met with a road accident near Mohanpur area on January 7.
Karmakar, who was riding as pillion on a bike, sustained critical injuries in the accident while Papan Ghosh, who was riding the motorcycle, died at the spot. Sujay was immediately taken to Kalyani JNM Hospital and was later shifted to SSKM.
The doctors at SSKM Hospital declared the youth as brain dead on Sunday. The family members of the deceased agreed to donate his organs and the necessary procedures were subsequently taken up by the hospital authorities.
After getting clearance from the Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO), the doctors in the hospital retrieved the organs from the youth's body.
The liver was taken to a private hospital on EM Bypass. In both the cases, the city police facilitated 'green corridors' to provide a safe passage of the organs to different hospitals in the city. SSKM Hospital is expected to transplant the kidneys on two patients.
CMCH has conducted the heart transplant on Amal Haldar (47) who had been suffering from serious heart related ailments for the past two years. This is the fourth case of heart transplant carried out by the CMCH, ever since it got the clearance from the Health department.
It may be mentioned here that Bengal has witnessed a spurt in the number of organ donations, following various steps taken up by the Health department.
The department has so far conducted a number of awareness camps in various hospitals, to make people aware about organ donation. Senior officials from various medical colleges in the neighbouring states also participated in an awareness camp organised in the city last year.
People in the state have responded to the relentless campaigns carried out by the state government and are coming forward to donate the organs of the brain dead patients.