Milestone - Power of the Human Spirit and Kindness. (Tamilnadu - India.)

CHENNAI: For grief counsellors at the Government General Hospital (GH), the noble deed of an uneducated, homeless migrant family showed them the power of the human spirit. Hailing from Andhra Pradesh and surviving against the odds by eking out a living working on construction sites, relatives of Ramesh, a 23-year-old labourer, moved doctors with their decision to donate his organs follwoing his death in an accident.

Ramesh was rushed to GH for treatment after sustained injuries in an accident at a construction site. Doctors declared him brain dead on Tuesday. Since it is imperative to have family members present in a situation like this, GH authorities tracked down Ramesh's family and asked them to reach the hospital immediately.

When they arrived, hospital authorities found that none of the members could speak Tamil, they were all illiterate and that Ramesh's wife was a minor. The young bride's tragedy was compounded by the fact that she had known her husband for only a year since the couple got married only recently. As migrant workers in an alien city, the family did not even have an address to put on the forms and entered their address as Retteri platform' instead.

Though in a state of shock and bewilderment, the family listened patiently to grief counsellors (persons designated to talk to relatives of a patient about the uses of organ donation if an individual has been declared brain-dead) as they told them about organ donation and its formalities.

With the help of translators, the counsellors told Ramesh's family how donating his organs will help give life to others. The family took some time to discuss the issue among themselves and came back to tell doctors that they were willing to donate Ramesh's organs.

According to Dr J Amalorpavanathan, coordinator, state organ registry, "One kidney was used for another patient at the GH, one was sent to Stanley Medical College, his heart valve was sent to Madras Medical Mission, liver to Christian Medical College, Vellore, and eyes were sent to the Eye Bank of Government Ophtalmic Hospital, Egmore."

While organ donation in Tamil Nadu has progressed swiftly with the state organ registry having facilitated more than 100 cases, doctors said the situation in India was rather dismal. "We found it very moving that this family who are living in the most dire straits and have nothing going for them, came forward and agreed to sign the papers agreeing to donate his organs. They have set an example for us all by salvaging their boy's death to help give life to others," Dr Amalorpavanathan added.