He met with an accident on his way to a funeral last week; had begun moving into his new house just a day earlier

The organs of a school teacher, who was declared brain dead after a road accident [...]]]>

From : http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/article3414146.ece                      CHENNAI, May 13, 2012

The organs of a school teacher, who was declared brain dead after a road accident last week, were harvested for donation.

P. Sahaya Remin, 34, was riding his two-wheeler to a funeral in Red Hills on May 4, when the accident took place on Chennai Bypass Road. He was rushed to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital from where he was referred to Apollo Firstmed Hospital in Kilpauk. However, he did not regain consciousness and on May 9, his relatives were informed that he was brain dead.

Kin readily agree to donate organs

With their consent, his organs — eyes, heart, lungs, liver and kidneys — were harvested, according to his colleagues at St. Joseph’s Higher Secondary School in East Tambaram, where Mr. Remin was a Tamil teacher for over a decade.

His liver and a kidney were given to Apollo Hospitals while the other kidney was sent to Vijaya Hospital, said state transplant coordinator J. Amalorpavanathan.

As there were no takers for the heart, the valves were harvested and sent to Madras Medical Mission Hospital. The eyes were sent to Sankara Nethralaya.

His body was later taken to his native place — Royapampatti village near Uthamapalayam in Theni District.

He is survived by his wife, A. Sharmila, a lecturer at A.M. Jain College in Meenambakkam, and their sons Mark Yugan, a class I student and eight-month-old Mark Yohan.

Mr. Remin’s colleagues lauded his wife and kin for acting fast on their decision to donate his organs. They recalled that the teacher was the first to sign up for organ donation when an awareness camp was held in the school. A graduate in Tamil literature through a correspondence course from Madras University, he completed B.Ed before joining the school as a teacher in 2001.

Dedicated teacher

Always the first to arrive and last to leave, he was known for his punctuality and discipline, and had a deep affection for his students, a colleague said. He had enrolled for M.A. in Tamil Literature through correspondence and was to appear for the first semester examinations in the third week of May.

The family stayed in a rented house until recently. A while ago, they bought a flat and used up all their savings, apart from pledging some jewellery and taking a loan, a colleague said. On May 3, a day before the accident, they began shifting into the new house.

Helped those in need

L.R. Tamilselvan, who is closely associated with the school and knew Mr. Remin, said that the latter was always willing to lend a helping hand to the needy.

He was especially supportive of his friends and relatives from Theni who came to make a living in Chennai.

“I hope and pray that the harvested organs benefit the deserving, especially the poor. Throughout his life, Remin’s cherished dream was to empower the poor and downtrodden through education and employment,” Mr. Tamilselvan said.

Always the first to arrive and last to leave, he was known for his punctuality and discipline, and had a deep affection for his students. He was always willing to help the needy

Plans to start comprehensive registry for corneal transplant

The need for such a database was highlighted at a recent meeting in which eye [...]]]>

From http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/article2925252.ece

Plans to start comprehensive registry for corneal transplant

With more private hospitals taking up corneal transplantation, it has become necessary for the Cadaver Transplant Programme of Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital to come up with a cornea registry.

The need for such a database was highlighted at a recent meeting in which eye hospitals and eye banks participated. A comprehensive registry will not only help health professionals and the government understand the process of harvest, but also give a good indication of the success rate of corneal transplantation. It would also help see if claims of private hospitals using advanced techniques for transplantation actually translate into better results.

Cornea is the transparent structure in the eye, which in case of injury or insult turns opaque, resulting in loss of sight. As corneas do not require blood supply, the need for tissue matching does not arise. However, there is no data on the success rate of eye transplantations or subsequent follow up though the State Blindness Control Society collects details of corneas collected and utilised.

CORNEAS CAN BE DONATED AT ANY AGE BUT THEIR SUITABILITY MUST BE ASSESSED BEFORE IT IS TRANSPLANTED. DOCTORS FOLLOW A PROTOCOL AND HARVESTED CORNEAS ARE REJECTED EITHER BECAUSE THEY ARE INFECTED, RETRIEVED LATE OR ARE DAMAGED. THIS IS THE REASON WHY ONLY AROUND 50 PER CENT OF THE CORNEAS THAT ARE HARVESTED ARE OF QUALITY THAT CAN BE TRANSPLANTED, SAYS MOHAN RAJAN OF RAJAN EYE CARE HOSPITAL, WHICH DOES ONE TRANSPLANT A DAY.

RAMA RAJAGOPAL, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CORNEA DEPARTMENT, SANKARA NETHRALAYA SAYS, “HARVESTED CORNEAS ARE SUBJECTED TO QUALITATIVE TESTS TO ASSESS THEIR SUITABILITY TO AVOID TRANSMITTING AN INFECTION FROM THE DONOR TO THE RECIPIENT.”

AMAR AGARWAL, WHO PERFORMS TWO CORNEAL TRANSPLANTS EVERY DAY, SAYS THAT THOUGH TECHNOLOGY HAS ADVANCED “THE BOTTOM LINE IN TRANSPLANTATION IS THAT CORNEAS SHOULD BE HARVESTED WITHIN SIX HOURS OF A PERSON’S DEATH AND THE SURGERY FOR TRANSPLANTATION DONE IMMEDIATELY.”

WHILE EACH HOSPITAL IS ABLE TO PROVIDE DATA ABOUT THE NUMBER OF TRANSPLANTATIONS, THERE IS LITTLE INFORMATION ABOUT THE NUMBER OF PERSONS WHO HAVE RECOVERED SIGHT AND THE FOLLOW-UP DONE BY HOSPITALS, SAYS J. AMALORPAVANATHAN, STATE TRANSPLANT COORDINATOR.

ANANI SAMPATH | DC CHENNAI, DEC. 11 Tamil Nadu has an impres- sive record in cadaver organ transplant. So much so, that the rest of India looks up to and wants to emulate it in this field of humanity. Most other states want to achieve Tamil Nadu’s deceased donor rate of [...]]]>

From Deccan Chronicle 12/12/2011

ANANI SAMPATH | DC
CHENNAI, DEC. 11
Tamil Nadu has an impres-
sive record in cadaver organ
transplant. So much so, that
the rest of India looks up to
and wants to emulate it in
this field of humanity.
Most other states want to
achieve
Tamil
Nadu’s
deceased donor rate of 1.3 per
million – the national average
is 0.5 to 0.8 per.
But of late, something has
gone wrong for the leader.
Though TN crossed the 1,000-
donor mark in April, the
number of transplants in the
state has fallen drastically in
the past few months.
The state had recorded 523
transplants last year, includ-
ing 250 major ones such as
heart, liver, lungs and kid-
neys.
This year, however, it had
recorded only 383 transplants
till November 2011. Of these,
195 were major. With yearend
days away, last year’s dona-
tion gala seems to be all but
over.
“The procedure has lost
steam only over the past four
months. In July, we hardlyhad time to sleep as we did as
many as 14 transplants and
our half yearly average was
seven to eight cases a month.
But in November, we did only
four cases and the month
before that just one,” said Dr
Amalorpavanathan,
chief
transplant coordinator at the
government
hospital
in
Chennai.
The reasons for the dip are
many. Superstition and reli-
gious restrictions for one still
hinder grief counsellors
approaching families of
prospective donors.
However, the most common
reason families refuse to
donate organs is the wait to
take bodies home. Sometimes
it takes three days to a week
to complete formalities and
paperwork before organs are
harvested and a body
released for last rites.
Doctors admit awareness
needs to be created among
paramedical staff rather than
the public.
“Early identification of
brain dead cases is needed.
Yes, TN is a pioneer in cadav-
er organ transplant, but a lot
more needs to be done,” said
Dr Amal.