In death, Surat’s 14-month-old Somnath Shah became western India’s youngest cadaver donor. Mumbai’s three-and-a-half-year-old Aaradhya Muley received his heart while a 15-year old boy from Banaskantha received his kidneys.
As per an Indian Express report, Somnath was declared brain dead on September 3. He had suffered a haemorrhage and multiple fractures on the skull the previous day, after he slipped from the stairs while playing at home.
Somnath’s family hails from Mubarakpur village in Siwan district of Bihar.
The 14-month-old infant hit his head and become unconscious. A CT scan at New Civil Hospital in Surat revealed that he was brain dead.
Also read: Why Your Child Should Become an Organ Donor
Nilesh Mandlewala, president of Surat-based Donate Life, an initiative for organ donation, told the Indian Express that they explained organ donation to Somnath’s family post his brain death.
The family agreed on September 4, post which the process of finding recipients began.
His heart was harvested on September 5 for Aaradhya Muley. She was suffering from viral myocarditis for over a year. It is a condition of the inflammation of heart caused by viral infection. Post the transplant, Dr Swati Garekar, paediatric cardiologist at Fortis Hospital, said Aaradhya’s condition was critical but stable.
Somanth’s kidneys were harvested at Ahmedabad-based Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre (IKDRC) for a 15-year-old boy of Deesa city in Banaskantha district.
In 2010, a four-day old infant in Andhra Pradesh had become India’s youngest organ donor. Her heart valves were transplanted in two children, while her eyes were transplanted in two adult patients.
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