The family of a 25-year-old man who was declared brain-dead at a private hospital in the city on Tuesday afternoon agreed to donate his organs after the doctors and hospital officials counselled them.

Jayesh Laxmishankar Jaiswal, who was a resident of Khagen Chatterjee Road in Cossipore, suffered injuries when a truck hit the youth on the night of May 8.

The organs were harvested on Wednesday.

Four people were to receive his lungs, liver, and kidneys. The transplant surgeries had started by Wednesday evening, said an official of the Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (Rotto).

The cornea was sent to Disha Eye Hospitals and will remain in their eye bank for future transplant, the official said.

This was only the fifth organ transplant in Bengal in the four-and-a-half months of 2025.

Despite multiple road accident deaths, where cadaveric organ donations are possible, the actual number of organ donations in the state has remained low.

Lack of awareness among people, as well as doctors and hospital administrators, was among the factors for the low rate of cadaveric organ donation in the state, Rotto officials said.

Only 14 cadaveric organ donations took place in 2024.

An official explained that multiple organs of a donor are harvested and transplanted. The actual number of cadaveric organ transplants is higher than the number of donors. The growth and awareness are judged by the number of cadaveric donors in a year.

Yearly, an overwhelming majority of organ donations in India happen in South India and a few western Indian states, said a Rotto official.

“Four people who had enlisted their names for transplants were given his organs. The liver went to a 65-year-old man in Apollo, his lungs went to a 22-year-old woman in Apollo, one kidney went to a 36-year-old woman in Apollo, and another kidney went to a 47-year-old man in SSKM,” said sources.

Jayesh, born and raised in Mumbai, shifted to Calcutta one-and-a-half-years ago to help his father run the family business. “His father runs a chanachur factory, and Jayesh wanted to grow it further,” said Akash Shaw, Jayesh’s cousin.

He was returning home from the factory on a two-wheeler when a truck hit him on a road in Baranagar close to midnight on May 8. “His family received a call from some local people around midnight. He was first admitted to RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. When the doctor at the hospital said his condition was critical, we decided to shift him to Apollo Multispeciality Hospitals the next evening,” said Akash.

At Apollo, the doctors declared him brain dead on Tuesday afternoon. “They approached the family, and we felt this was a noble thing to do. In death, he would give life to many others,” said Akash.

“He was a fitness freak and had certification to train people in the gym. He was a personal trainer to many. He was a dog-lover and was associated with social work in Mumbai,” said Akash.

Rotto officials said the role of transplant coordinators and doctors who last treated a brain-dead person is very important in convincing the family to donate the organs.

“The fact that a person has become brain dead is first broken to the family. The request for organ donation is not made immediately. They are allowed some time to grieve. Later, doctors approach the nearest kin, asking them whether
they want to donate organs and explain how it helps others,” said a transplant coordinator with a private hospital in the city.

“How much time the family will take to decide is up to them,” she said.