Mrs. Daisy Rani, a 40-year-old lady, who lived in Coimbatore, went to Trivandrum to undergo brain surgery. Unfortunately, following the surgery she did not recover and was declared brain dead. Her husband, transcending his grief, decided to donate here kidneys to save the precious lives of organ failure patients. Being a resident of Coimbatore, he rang up K.G. Hospital, Coimbatore, and expressed his desire to donate his wife’s organs.

Responding to this extremely altruistic gesture K. G. Hospital sent a mobile intensive care unit (Responder 2000) along with an intensivist, Dr. Sendhilkumar, an expert in managing emergencies. In about 5 hrs, the brain – dead lady was brought to K.G. Hospital from Trivandrum by road. In the meantime, Mr. A. V. Prasad, a 45 year old business man and  Mrs. Kasturi, a housewife, who were on dialysis at K G Hospital  were identified to be prospective recipients.

The surgery was performed on October 21, 2000 at K. G. Hospital. The transplantation team  wsa led by Dr. R. Balasubramainan, nephrologist; Dr. V. P. Shanmugasundram, Chief surgeon;  Dr. M.  Ramalingam, urologist. Both Mr.A.V.Prasad and Mrs.Kasthuri did well after the surgery. Both carneas were donated to K.G.Eye Hospital.

It was the first time in India that such a cadaver transplantation was performed, that it, by transporting a brain-dead person by road and then retrieving the organs, although harvested kidneys have been transported before and successfully transplanted. 

Dr G. Bhatavatsalam, Chairman of K G Hospital aptly put it, it was a herculean task that was successfully performed solely  due to  the concerted effort of the entire transplant team – the doctors, nurses, OT staff members, blood bank, lab and transport departments.