Brain-dead boy's organs give fresh lease of life to six in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 6 (PTI) A seven-year-old boy, who was declared brain-dead after a road accident, gave a fresh lease of life to six patients through organ donation, with one of his kidneys transported under a special green corridor from Thiruvananthapuram to Kozhikode for a life-saving transplant. The organs of Lokineni Yashvan, a Hyderabad native who succumbed to injuries sustained in a road accident on June 29, were donated after his family consented to organ donation despite their personal tragedy, Health Minister K Muraleedharan said in a statement on Monday. One of the donated kidneys was transported by road from KIMSHEALTH Hospital here to Iqraa Hospital in Kozhikode under a police-escorted green corridor, enabling a 17-year-old patient from Kannur to undergo a transplant, it said. Acting on the directions of Muraleedharan and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, police coordinated the green corridor to ensure the organ reached its destination without delay. Yashvan, son of Lokineni Raghu and Soumya Paparao, was critically injured after being hit by an ambulance while crossing a road on his bicycle at Anuvijay Township in Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli district on June 29. Raghu is a Scientific Officer at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project. The boy was initially taken to a nearby health centre and later shifted to KIMSHEALTH here for specialised treatment. Despite intensive care, doctors declared him brain-dead on July 5. The family then decided to donate his organs. His two kidneys, liver, two corneas and heart valve were donated, the minister said. While one kidney was transplanted into the Kannur teenager, the second kidney was allotted to a four-year-10-month-old girl undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College Hospital here. The liver was transplanted into a 17-year-old girl from Kollam undergoing treatment at KIMSHEALTH. The heart valve was handed over to the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, while the two corneas were transferred to the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology. Muraleedharan expressed gratitude to Yashvan's parents for their "noble decision" taken in the midst of immense grief and paid tributes to the boy. He also thanked the police, doctors, Kerala Network for Organ Sharing, healthcare workers and members of the public for ensuring the swift completion of the organ retrieval and transportation process, the statement added. PTI LGK ADB