Relatives still reluctant to donate all organs of brain-dead patients in state

Kolkata: The Bengal government has seen an unprecedented spur in organ transplants in the past 2 years, but still some of the family members of brain-dead patients are showing reluctance in donating all the organs.

In a few recent incidents, it has been observed that the family members were selective about retrieving the organs from brain-dead patients. The most recent one has been reported at SSKM Hospital, where relatives of a 27-year-old youth from Hooghly refused to donate the heart but agreed to provide two kidneys.

The state government has been conducting constant awareness campaigns at both the government-run and private hospitals. The attempt has started yielding results as the number of transplants has gone up.

According to a senior official of the state Health department, as many as 14 different cases of organ transplants have taken place in the state since July this year. MPOST