Brain dead man’s kidneys save two lives at AIIMS-R

Raipur: The family of a 39-year-old man from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, donated his kidneys after he was declared brain dead at AIIMS Raipur, enabling two life-saving transplants. The donor, Sunil Kumar, had come to Raipur to visit relatives in Shankar Nagar when he met with a fatal road accident on March 23. After initial treatment at Pt JNM Medical College and a private hospital, he was referred to AIIMS Raipur on April 4 for advanced care. The neurosurgery and CCU teams declared him brain dead on April 17 following established clinical protocols. The transplant coordination team counselled the family during this period. The family consented to donate his kidneys to patients suffering from end-stage kidney disease. SOTTO-Chhattisgarh guidelines governed the allocation of the organs based on the state waiting list. One kidney went to a 45-year-old patient at AIIMS Raipur who had been on dialysis for three years. The second kidney went to a 39-year-old woman patient at a private hospital. Both recipients are stable and recovering in the transplant ICU. Multiple departments at AIIMS Raipur coordinated the process. The transplant coordination team managed counselling, logistics, and cross-matching. Local authorities assisted with legal and postmortem formalities. Dr Vinay Rathore, associate professor, nephrology, said this marked the seventh deceased organ donation and the 12th deceased donor kidney transplant at AIIMS Raipur—the highest in the state. The institute has performed 95 kidney transplants in total. Dr Amit Sharma, additional professor, urology, explained one transplant presented surgical challenges due to autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. This required the removal of the enlarged native kidney to accommodate the donor organ. Lt Gen Ashok Jindal (retd), executive director and CEO, dAIIMS Raipur, called the act selfless and courageous. The family chose to help others during their moment of deepest grief.