14-month-old brain dead toddler is Gujarat's youngest organ donor

New Delhi: After being declared brain dead, fourteen-month-old Somnath Shah has become the youngest organ donor in Gujarat by donating his heart and kidneys to two persons.

Somnath, who hailed from Mubarakpur village in Siwan district of Bihar, was declared brain dead after he suffered a haemorrhage and multiple skull fractures.

Taking his family's consent, his heart was transplanted into Mumbai’s three-and-a-half-year-old Aaradhya Muley, while kidneys to a 15-year-old boy from Banaskantha.

The little one fell from stairs while playing with his elder sister near his house and hit his head and became unconscious.

His parents took him to a local doctor, on whose advice, they rushed him to New Civil Hospital in Surat.

A CT scan at the hospital revealed that he was brain dead.

As per a report published in Indian Express, Nilesh Mandlewala, president of Surat-based Donate Life, an initiative for organ donation, said the hospital doctors informed them about Somnath. “He had a brain haemorrhage and multiple fractures in skull. Somnath was declared brain dead on Sunday night after which we explained organ donation to the family. Besides working on organ donation, we also double up as counsellors,” said Mandlewala.

“The family finally agreed on Monday evening, and we started the process of finding the recipients,” added Mandlewala. Somnath’s father said they that agreed for organ donation after the counsellors explained them its importance. “If the lives of other children can be saved by our son, what can be better than this? We are proud of our decision,” said his father over telephone.