Five-year-old boy's condition stable after organ transplant

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The condition of the five-year-old boy, who underwent liver and kidney transplant at a private hospital here, is stable. He is likely to be taken off ventilator on Tuesday. The three-year-old donor’s organs were transplanted by 20 doctors and 20 nurses in a 15-hour operation.

Dr. B. Venugopal, who led the marathon combined  transplantation,  was assisted by a team of doctors, including  Dr. T. U. Shabeerali, Dr. Shiraz Ahmad Rawther, Dr. Renu Thomas, anaesthetists Dr. Badrinath and Dr. Kusumam.

“We started the surgery on the donor girl at 5 a.m. on Sunday  and removed her organs by 9 a.m. The transplantation on the boy was completed late on Sunday night,”  said Dr. Venugopal.

The parents  met the boy briefly on Sunday night and twice on Monday. The father said the next two weeks would be crucial for the child.

“We are indebted to the donor  and her family.  At first, Dr. Shabeerali refused to give us more details  about the donor. But we  got all the details from the  news channels. Once our son bounces back to life, we will  call on the grieving parents of the girl,”  said the father.

The boy’s parents belonging to Vellarada are government employees and have been living near the hospital in a rented house for  the last four months.