KG Hospital proved its quality
Recipient of cadaver kidneys S. Parameswaran recuperating at K.G. Hospital in Coimbatore. Chairman of the hospital G. Bakthavathsalam (second right) and nephrologist R. Balasubramaniam are in the picture.The donation of two kidneys of a seven-year-old girl, who was declared “brain dead”, to a 46-year-old man speaks volumes for the nobility of the kith and kin of the girl and also the expertise of the medical fraternity here. Besides, it explains the importance of cadaver transplant which could prove a boon for the country where lakhs of people are waiting for kidney transplant.Rajeswari was one of the 10 members of a family that met with a road accident near Erode on June 24 morning. While six of them died on the spot, she suffered severe brain injury and was declared brain dead at Lotus Hospital, Erode. Even as the relatives of the child wanted to donate the organs of the child to the needy, they were advised to contact K.G. Hospital here.When the request to shift this brain dead child from Erode to Coimbatore was received, the chairman of the K.G.Hospital, Dr.G. Bakthavathsalam, accepted the challenge and a hi-tech medical transport team was rushed to Erode.
The child was examined and the brain death was reconfirmed. The child’s heart, lungs and kidneys were stabilised and the brain dead child was transported to K.G. Hospital here at 4 p.m. on June 27. As 46-year-old Parameswaran, a patient on dialysis at the hospital, was identified as a suitable recipient for kidney transplantation, he underwent all pre-transplant evaluations and was declared fit for undergoing cadaver kidney transplantation.The surgery undertaken by a 10-member team headed by Dr.R. Balsubramaniyam, chief nephrologist, and Dr.M. Ramalingam, chief urologist, of the hospital took over six hours and was over at 6 a.m. on June 28.
According to a hospital release, the recipient recovered from the surgery and the kidneys started working immediately. He is likely to be discharged in a week. Dr. Ramalingam says that this is one of the toughest surgeries he has ever performed.The child’s kidneys, blood tubes and urine tubes were small in size and they had to be fixed onto an adult patient. Dr. Balasubramaniyam laments that while waiting for donor kidney from a relative , many patients have to stay on dialysis for months together. Many die on dialysis itself before they could get a suitable kidney. Cadaver kidney transplantation is the only solution to these suffering millions. Dr. Bakthavathsalam points out that nowhere a brain dead victim is transported for cadaver transplantation.
