KOCHI: A 10-month-old girl became the youngest organ donor in the state after her parents consented to donate her organs following brain death, officials said on Friday.
According to a statement issued by Amrita Hospital, Aalin Sherin Abraham was critically injured in a road accident on February 5 while travelling with her mother and maternal grandparents at Pallam near Kottayam on the MC Road.
She was the daughter of Arun Abraham and Sherin Ann John, residents of Mallappally in Pathanamthitta district.
The child was first admitted to hospitals in Changanassery, and later in Thiruvalla before being shifted for advanced treatment to Amrita Hospital, Kochi, on February 6, officials said.
Despite intensive medical efforts, doctors confirmed brain death on Thursday afternoon, the statement said.
With the parents’ consent, the organ donation process was coordinated through the Kerala State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (K-SOTTO), officials said.
Following surgery at the hospital on Friday evening, the child’s heart valve was sent to Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram; the liver to KIMS Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram; and the kidneys to Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, officials said.
The eyes will be donated to the eye bank.
The organs were transported to Thiruvananthapuram by road, with police arranging a smooth passage.
Doctors described the parents’ decision, taken amid profound grief, as a rare and inspiring example of organ donation, the statement added.