Bangladesh witnessed its first-ever deceased organ donation in January 2023 with the retrieval of two kidneys and corneas from a brain dead donor. The donation was made possible by the Human Organ Transplantation (Amendment) Act of 2018, which authorized the retrieval of organs from brain dead donors. The organs were retrieved from Sarah Islam, a 20-year-old first-year Fine Arts student. Sarah had been suffering from a rare genetic disease since she was 10 months old. Her health gradually deteriorated, and she underwent a surgery at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), where her condition worsened and she was subsequently declared brain dead by the attending physicians.

Her mother Shabnam Sultana, a schoolteacher was approached by the doctors and subsequently gave permission for donating Sarah's kidneys and corneas. The kidney transplant was received by two female patients, one from the BSMMU and the other from the National Kidney Foundation Hospital. Sarah's donation also enabled corneal transplants performed on two patients.