Brain dead driver gives new lease of life to seven people

Coimbatore: A 36-year-old bus driver, who was declared brain dead, Tuesday gave a new lease of life to seven people after his family agreed to donate his vital organs.

The family came forward after post-traumatic stress counselling, to donate the organs following which a team of doctors from Coimbatore Medical College Hospital and KMCH harvested the heart, liver, kidneys, eyes and skin of Natarajan, a release from Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital (KMCH) said.

While the liver and kidneys were transplanted to patients at KMCH, the heart was sent to a private hospital in Chennai.

The skin and eyes were sent to private hospitals here.

Natarajan, who was from Kumalankuttai village in Erode district, worked as a private bus driver. He suddenly fell unconscious on June 20 and was diagnosed with grade-IV subarachnoid haemorrhage due to high blood pressure, the release said.

He failed to respond to treatment and was declared brain dead on June 27, it said.