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A thoughtful decision that saved a girl

Staff Reporter

Organ donors' families felicitated at FORTE function

FELICITATIONS: Governor T.N. Chaturvedi with the family members of organ donors at a function in Bangalore on Thursday. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

BANGALORE: It was a thoughtful decision that Shiv Murthy had once made that helped a young girl get a new lease of life.

A kidney donated by Mr. Murthy, a mechanic who died in a road accident last year, gave the nine-year-old girl another shot at life. The family of Mr. Murthy and six other organ donors' families were felicitated on Thursday by the Governor T.N. Chaturvedi at an event organised by the Foundation for Organ Retrieval and Transplant Education (FORTE).

At the event, several prominent citizens of Bangalore signed a pledge to donate their organs after their death.

Sixtyone-year-old Subash Pai, a manager at Canara Bank, who died of brain haemorrhage two years ago, donated his kidneys.

His gesture prompted his wife and two children to also pledge their organs. "Pledging of organs can make a huge difference to many persons," said Pattammal Subash Pai. Any individual aged between one and 60 is a potential organ donor; it is the health of the organ that is important. Potential organ donors have to be declared brain dead before the organs can be transplanted and this has to be confirmed by four doctors. The organisation, which has been working to create awareness and coordinate cadaver organ transplants since 1996, has facilitated transplants of 42 kidneys, one heart, one liver and many corneas.

Mr. Chaturvedi expressed his appreciation for families who ensured that dead persons' organs were harvested in time. "It is a sacrifice that is inspiring and moving," he said.

K.D. Phadke, managing trustee of FORTE, said hospitals needed to play a more proactive role in organ donation.

But, he said, this needed to be done sensitively after counselling the families and seeking permission for organ donations.

The eminent citizens who pledged to donate their organs included H. Sudarshan, Vigilance Director of Lokayukta, C.C. Janardhan, programme coordinator of Akshaya Patra Foundation, A. Jayaram, Chief of Bureau of The Hindu, Darius Sunawala, Radio Jockey at Radio City, Dinesh co-founder of Infosys, and his wife, Asha Dinesh, B. Subramanya, managing director of Haiku Honda, and K.S. Ganapathy, dean of Dental Faculty at the Rajiv Gandhi University of Dental Sciences.

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