In a swift move by the All-India Institute of Medical Science, New Delhi, organs of a 61-year-old man were quickly retrieved to save the lives of four critically ill patients in desperate need of transplants. The person was declared brain dead at AIIMS Trauma Centre on Wednesday.

Significantly the process of declaring brain death was completed by the doctors within 24 hours and two kidneys, live and two corneas were retrieved.

Dr. Deepak Gupta Centre’s professor of neurosurgery informed TOI that as the lung and heart were not suitable, they were not transplanted.

Sharing details about the quick competition of declaring the patient brain dead, Dr. Gupta stated that normally it entails four days and this makes many families opt out.

He told TOI: “We recently organised a ‘One-day brain death certification programme’ at AIIMS, where residents and young faculties were given hands-on training on high-fidelity simulators about how to diagnose brain death and resolving the common hurdles faced in its certification. The successful retrieval of organs from the cadaver donor within 24 hours is a result of the same.”

Following the legal procedure, sleep apnoea tests were conducted twice before declaring the donor brain dead. The second test in this case was done on Wednesday 11.45 p.m. after which within two hours medicolegal and police and administrative clearances were obtained. This helped to start organ retrieval at 1.45 a.m.

Brain death which is caused due to severe injury to the organ leads to total and permanent loss of all its functions, including those connected with the cerebrum or the thinking part of the brain and the brainstem.

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