Army Hospital Research & Referral (R&R) is scripting heartwarming tales of Organ Donation that are saving many lives. This year alone AHRR has performed 9 Heart Transplants, 4 Liver transplants and countless Kidney transplants.
The organ donation initiative in the armed forces started in the late 2000s and is coordinated by the Armed Forces Organ Retrieval and Transplantation Authority (AORTA) in Army hospital (R&R).
Sources confirmed to Financial Express Online that Organ donations from Army Hospital R&R over the last five years include: Kidney -28; Heart – 8; Liver -9; Tissue & Cornea till date in 2022 is 130. The Tissue & Cornea donation had started in 2018 with just 10 and this was followed by 12 in 2019, 79 in 2020, and 108 in 2021.
For the first time, sources say that Bones were donated too – the first time it was at AFMS earlier this month. And the Army Hospital has donated – Femur; Tibia Fibula; and Patella with tendon.
“The number of Organ Donors during the two years on global pandemic of Covid-19 had gone down. However, now it is slowly picking up,” explained the source.
“The bones, besides being used for transplants in our hospitals have also been sent to AIIMS. If there is no requirement in our hospitals then we send the Heart to Medanta. We have donated Lungs for transplant to Medanta,” the source added.
The Lungs were allocated to Medanta transported via Green Corridor; One Kidney was allocated to AIIMS. Heart, Liver and one kidney including both corneas were utilized by AHRR. And these organs, according to the source quoted above, were successfully transplanted on serving personnel.
Story of an Organ Donor
One such story emerged earlier this month on December 14, when a young newlywed (around four months back) Air warrior CPL Sachin 27year old was brought to AHRR on December 12, morning after sustaining head injury earlier on Dec 8. Despite all efforts he was unfortunately Declared Brain dead.
After counseling his young wife Ms Manisha (22 years old) and elderly parents, the family consented to donate Heart, Liver, and Lungs, Both kidneys & cornea have given several patients a new lease of life.
When did it all start – Organ Donation Awareness?
Financial Express had reported in 2007 that the Armed Forces had initiated the Donor Transplant programme. Despite receiving a lot of criticism and being questioned at every step by both medical and non-medical fraternity, today they have the largest and most successful donor transplant programme in the government sector.
A predominantly deceased donor transplant programme — Armed Forces Organ Retrieval & Transplantation Authority (AORTA) was established.
The objective of this was to spread awareness about organ donation, organ sharing and organ retrievals.
Since April of 2007, under AORTA more than 1000 kidney transplants and more than 108 Liver transplants have been carried out. And most were through deceased donor liver transplants.
According to sources, convincing the families and most importantly the old parents is challenging at times. However, it is not impossible, because of the inherent feeling of camaraderie.
Another big advantage is the availability of an aircraft 24×7 because of the Indian Air Force (IAF), as it helps in carrying the organs to different places across the country.
Based on an amendment made in Transplantation of Human Organs Act (THOA) rule back in 2014, Armed Forces Hospitals across the country for the purpose of organ retrieval are regarded as one state, as the recipients do not belong to any one particular state.
