Wednesday, January 21, 2009

RIFLEMAN GIVES LIFE TO THREE AND VISION TO TWO EVEN AFTER DEATH

The organ donation and transplantation program at Army Hospital is growing from strength to strength. After the multiple organ donation by the family of radiologist working in the hospital itself on 07 Jan 09, another multiple organ donation took place on 19 Jan 09. This time it was a noble gesture by the family of a brave young soldier, rifleman Vijay Singh, who was declared brain dead, after sustaining a head injury in a road traffic accident. This selfless act of the family, especially his grandfather who himself is an ex-serviceman, saved three lives and restored vision to two blind persons. The liver was transplanted in a fifteen year young boy suffering from advanced cirrhosis of liver. One kidney was given to mother of a serving soldier suffering from end stage renal failure and the other kidney was handed over to the Organ Retrieval and Banking Organisation (ORBO) for transplantation at AIIMS, New Delhi.

 The total number of such multiple, organ donations has risen to 17 since the inception of the Armed Forces Organ Retrieval and Transplantation Authority (AORTA) in Apr 2007, the organization based at Army Hospital Delhi that handles all activities related to organ donation in armed forces. This has resulted in 18 Deceased Donor Liver Transplantation in Army Hospital, the highest such transplantations by a single Institute in the country.

The gallant gesture by the family of the young soldier RFN Vijay Singh is an expel of utmost kindness that a person can do for a fellow human being. Their selfless act makes us to introspect about organ donation and its immense benefit to mankind.


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