The vital organs of 17-year-old brain dead girl student, who had met with an accident, were harvested in Chikkamagaluru on Thursday and transported to Bengaluru, Manipal and Mangaluru.
A team of surgeons harvested heart, two kidneys, liver and two corneas. The heart was carried to Bengaluru by a helicopter. The district administration and the police made arrangements to transport the organs through green corridor.
Rakshitha, a native of Somanahalli in Kadur taluk, suffered serious head injury on September 18 as she slipped while getting down a bus in the town. The doctors who treated the injured at the district hospital declared her brain-dead. She was studying PU in a college at Basavanahallli in the city.
Her parents had given consent for organ donation.
Surgeons from Bengaluru and Mangaluru harvested the organs at the district hospital on Thursday morning, following the set guidelines.
C. Mohan Kumar, District Surgeon, told The Hindu: “Heart has been sent to Manipal Hospital in Bengaluru. It was required for a nine-year-old child. Two kidneys were matched and corneas were sent to KMC in Manipal and liver has been sent to KMC in Mangaluru.”
There was a request for lungs for a patient in Chennai. However, the lungs were not harvested as they did not match with the requirement.
The police had cleared traffic between the hospital and the helipad for free movement of the ambulance. Later, two ambulances carried other organs to Mangaluru and Manipal in Udupi district. The police had created a green corridor along the routes.
A team of 30 people, including surgeons and supporting staff from other hospitals were involved in the process. The surgeons and supporting staff of the district hospital assisted them.
Rakshita is survived by parents Shekhar Naik, Lakshmi Bai, and a brother. The family members gave consent for organ donation after they were convinced that she would not recover.
Lakshmi Bai said, “We took her to Shivamogga hoping that she will survive. The surgeon said she would not. We decided to donate her organs as they would help others in criticial health condition. If not physically with the family, our daughter will be alive somewhere else as her organs will be active,” she said.
Further, she said that the conductors and drivers in bus should ensure safety of their passengers. “My daughter died and we are at pain. We cannot come out of this forever. I wish no parents go through this pain”, she said.
The mortal remains were handed over to the family later in the day. The body was kept on the premises of her college. Her classmates and teachers paid their last respects and lauded her parents for agreeing to donate her organs.
