State sees over 500 organ pledge registrations in four days

The two recent successful heart transplantations in Kerala have given a momentum for organ pledge registrations in the State, with over 500 registrations received in four days of the surgeries.

Two back-to-back heart transplant surgeries were carried out in Kochi, on Thursday (September 11) and Saturday (September 13), as organs were harvested from brain-dead patients in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi.

On Thursday, the donor heart from Issac George, who was brain-dead, was airlifted from Thiruvananthapuram. It was successfully transplanted into a 28-year-old Angamaly native. In the early hours of Saturday, yet another heart transplant surgery was carried out when the heart donated by 18-year-old Biljith, a brain-dead accident victim, was transplanted into a 13-year-old. Both surgeries were carried out in Lisie Hospital in Kochi by a team led by cardiac surgeon Dr. Jose Chacko Periyappuram. 

The highest number of organ pledge registrations was from Thiruvananthapuram, which stood at 80. This was followed by 58 registrations from Ernakulam and 55 from Kollam. 

“The two successful transplants and multiple organ donations must have significantly left a positive impact on society. We have received pledges from other districts too, including Wayanad and Kasaragod, where we haven’t carried out many campaigns. So this surge is solely based on the positive public sentiment post the organ donations and heart transplant surgeries,” said Dr. Noble Gracious, State convener of Mrithasanjeevani organ transplant programme, Kerala’s State-sponsored deceased donor organ transplantation programme.

While 16 registrations were received from Kasaragod, Wayanad saw six registrations in these days. 

The donor pledges, which stood at three on Wednesday (September 10), jumped to 60 on Thursday, signifying a huge increase. This then spiked for the subsequent two days, as close to 200 people registered on a single day. On Sunday, the donor pledges registrations stood at 61. This marks the third such spike in registrations this year, the others being on April 6 and April 7, which saw 583 and 166 registrations, respectively, according to the data available on the website of the National Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organisation.