New Delhi : Within a course of just two days, Manipal Hospital EM Bypass, an entity of one of India’s largest health care providers – Manipal Hospitals Network, has seen two poignant instances of humanity and kindness, as the families of two individuals decided to donate organs of their loved ones, providing others with a second lease of life. These back-to-back donations underscore the urgent need for organ donation to save lives and narrow the ever-widening gap between patients waiting for transplant and available organs.

The first case involved Dr. Sanchita Bakshi (76), retired Director of Health Services, Government of West Bengal, who continued her life-long passion for public health even beyond her death. Dr. Bakshi was one of the most prolific contributors to many state health programs in her professional life. Following an intracerebral hemorrhage and being declared brain-dead at Manipal Hospital EM Bypass, her family fulfilled her wishes by contributing her organs.

Her liver was transplanted into a 48-year-old male at IPGMER, whereas her kidneys were transplanted into a 49-year-old female at RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences. Her corneas were also stored. ROTTO (East) organized the retrieval and transplant operations. Interestingly, Dr. Bakshi is the most senior deceased donor in ROTTO (East)’s database, and this is the 14th deceased organ donation in Bengal this year.

The second act of kindness was just a day after the first, when the family of a 65-year-old man, resident of Kolkata, who had been taken to Manipal Hospital EM Bypass following a fall and subsequent vomiting of blood, chose to donate his organs after he was diagnosed as brain-dead. His liver was transplanted to a 50-year-old at Apollo Multispecialty Hospital, while one kidney was transplanted into 43-year-old male at RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences and the other into a 54-year-old female at Manipal Hospital Mukundapur. Their altruistic gesture again underlined how organ donation converts tears of sorrow to rays of hope for several families.

Commenting on the two successive donations, Dr. Tanmay Banerjee, Director and HOD, Critical Care, Manipal Hospital EM Bypass, said, “These back-to-back donations bring to our notice the invaluable importance of organ donation in terms of saving lives. An important aspect of this process is preserving the donor’s body prior to retrieval. Supporting circulation, ventilation, and organ function in a brain-dead donor requires advanced medical equipment, continuous monitoring, and highly skilled manpower working round the clock. Every hour of preservation calls for a coordinated and meticulous approach to keeping the organs viable. This effort gives several patients a renewed chance of life. Families who consent to organ donation during such difficult times make this gesture a gift beyond measure.”

To this, Dr. Ayanabh Debgupta, Regional Chief Operating Officer, Manipal Hospitals East, added, “Manipal Hospitals have a strong commitment to raising awareness and strengthening organ donation infrastructure. Our programme, MOST – Manipal Organ Sharing & Transplant, is critical in enabling the sharing of organs between the Manipal network so that no organ is wasted and every chance to save a life is optimized. These two cases are reminders of what can be achieved through cooperation between families, hospitals and organizations.”