The family of a 67-year-old woman, who suffered a stroke on Sunday night and was declared “brain dead” on Tuesday, volunteered to donate her organs.
Her organs were retrieved on Wednesday.
Chandana Sengupta’s son said his mother “will be happy” with the decision the family took, he added.
The kidneys and eyes were donated, said an official of Calcutta Medical Research Institute (CMRI), where the woman was admitted around noon on Monday.
“One of the kidneys went to Fortis Hospital, the other went to Command Hospital, and the cornea to Priyamvada Birla Aravind Eye Hospital,” said the CMRI official.
Shankar Sengupta, Chandana’s son, said that when doctors briefed them about the woman’s health condition on Tuesday, they had a discussion and volunteered to donate her organs.
“My mother always went out of her way to help others. I think she will be happy with the decision,” Shankar said.
The woman was visiting her daughter and son-in-law in Raigunj when she suffered a stroke around 11pm on Sunday.
After initial treatment at Raiganj Medical College, the family shifted her to CMRI. She was admitted to the hospital around noon on Monday.
When her condition kept worsening, the family approached the hospital expressing their wish to donate her organs, said Shankar.
Chandana is the 17th deceased donor — cadaveric donor — in Bengal this year. Out of the 1,128 cadaveric donations in the country in 2024, only 14 were from Bengal, the website of the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) states.
Anil Kumar, the organisation’s director, said even if all hospitals did not have the infrastructure to do transplant surgeries, they could perform the role of being a donor centre or a retrieval centre.
The retrieved organs can be transported to hospitals that can do the transplant surgeries. On Wednesday, CMRI served as the donor centre.
“The organs were retrieved in our hospital and sent to other hospitals for transplant surgeries. Who gets the organs is based on an allocation list prepared by the Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation,” said Sombrata Roy, the unit head of CMRI Hospitals.