Organ donation of 15-year-old brain-dead brings hope to humanity

Humanity has not lost its touch in the cultural capital of India, Kolkata. A brain dead 15-year-old has brought a string of happiness in the lives of at least five people who received her kidneys, liver, corneas and skin graft in Kolkata. Mallika Majmuder was declared brain dead on Friday by the state-run Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research (IPGMER), SSKM Hospital, revealed a spokesman on Saturday.

Mallika was diagnosed with a brain lesion after being admitted on July 23 which later slipped her to coma on August 14, added the spokesman.  

Her father Manik Majumder said over the phone from Siliguri, “We were told by the doctors that there is no possibility of our daughter returning to life once she was declared brain dead. We were then convinced that if her organs could be transplanted on other persons she will continue to live among others. And that is our biggest consolation.”

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The humane gesture has revived the soul of humanity. Mallika’s kidneys were successfully transplanted to two patients at SSKM Hospital on Friday midnight, state nodal officer on organ transplantation Aditi Kishore Sarkar said. IPGMER sources suggest that the two kidneys brought a hope of joy to the lives of Moumita Chakraborty of Khardah and Sanjib Das of Sodepur in North 24 Parganas district.

The girl’s cornea has also been donated to a patient at SSKM and part of her skin was grafted on a burn patient.

While all the other organs could be successfully transplanted within the IPGMER SSKM compound, the liver was taken to a private hospital off E M Bypass through the green channel corridor facilitated by Kolkata Police early on Saturday.

The liver was successfully implanted after a five-hour long operation to a 44-year-old person from Hyderabad who was flown into the city on Friday at midnight, a statement from the private hospital said.

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The statement did not hold back on complimenting the pro-active efforts of the state health department which is working with the Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO) to raise awareness about transplant.

“This incident will set an example about donating organs of brain-dead patients and raise public awareness,” said Shankar.

A relative of Das, who was a recipient of one of the kidneys, said, “I will not belittle Mallika’s parents and the doctors by thanking them. Words fail to express our emotion.”

The last organ donation in the city had taken place over four months ago, in April.