Brain-dead 7-year-old boy’s organs to give new lease of life to six patients in Kerala

A seven-year-old boy, who was declared brain dead following a road accident, has become one of the youngest organ donors in Kerala after his family came forward to donate his organs.

Lokineni Yaashvan, a native of Hyderabad’s Tirumalagiri district and resident of Radhapuram taluk of Tirunelveli district, was hit by an ambulance while he was crossing the road on his bike in Anuvijay District on the night of June 29.

The seriously injured child was immediately taken to a nearby health center and transferred to the intensive care unit at KIMSHALTH in Thiruvananthapuram the same night.

After his brainstem death was confirmed on July 5, his parents Lokineni Raghu and Sowmya Papparao expressed their desire to donate his organs.

On Monday morning, the Kerala Network for Organ Sharing, with the help of the State police, organized a green corridor for the transplantation of one of the kidneys from Thiruvananthapuram to IQRAA Hospital in Kozhikode; Here the organ will be transplanted to a 17-year-old boy from Kannur who has end-stage renal disease.

Six organs, including kidney, liver, cornea and heart valve, are being transplanted to patients waiting for organs for a new life in various parts of the state.

While the liver is being transplanted to a patient in KIMSHALTH, one of the kidneys is being transplanted to a four-year-old child from Kottayam at Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram.

Both the corneas were collected by the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology and the heart valve by Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology.