Brain-dead woman gives new lease of life to three

Kolkata: Father of a brain-dead woman donated her five organs for transplantation to different patients on Christmas. One of the organs was later transported through Green Corridor, second such instance in the city in recent days, from one hospital to another before it was transplanted into a patient.

Surabhi Barat (22), a nurse from Asansol in Burdwan, was declared brain dead by the doctors at Apollo Gleneagles Hospital off EM Bypass on Sunday morning after she went to coma. Her father, Ashoke, took the decision to donate her two eyes, two kidneys, and liver.

The hospital authorities got in touch with the state health department to start the preparations. A search for recipients of the organs led to three patients - Relja Uvalic, a 57-year-old liver cirrhosis patient from Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu, and Paritosh Naskar and Bijoy Kumar Bhoot from West Bengal.

While Mr Naskar has been admitted at the nephrology department of SSKM Hospital, Mr Bhoot has been admitted at Apollo Hospital. Both required a kidney each. Surabhi’s two eyes were preserved at an eye hospital after the extraction, and a team of doctors from Apollo Hospital in Chennai flew by evening with Relja to undergo the liver transplantation.

Mr Bhoot of Howrah received one of the kidneys. At night, a green corridor was set up from the private hospital to SSKM Hospital.  The signals of the entire stretch were turned green to allow for smooth transportation.