In death, Navsari businessman donates life to six

SURAT: Six people got a new lease of life from the organs of a 45-year-old brain-dead businessman from Maroli village of Navsari district on Tuesday.
Businessman Dinesh Chhajed had suffered a paralytic attack on June 11 after his blood pressure shot up. He was rushed to D N Mehta Hospital in Navsari town where a CT scan confirmed a blood clot in his brain. Later he was shifted to a private hospital in Surat.However, the doctors at the private hospital declared Chhajed brain-dead on June 14 and informed Donate Life organization that promotes cadaver organ donation.
“We met the family members of Dineshbhai and counselled about cadaver donation. His wife Jayaben readily agreed. After receiving consent from the family, we informed State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTTO) convener Dr Pranjal Modi and told him about heart, kidneys and liver transplantation,” Nilesh Mandlewala of Donate Life told TOI.
As there was no patient in need of a heart transplant in the state, the heart was allotted to a Mumbai-based hospital where it was transplanted into a 30-year-old Navi Mumbai resident. The heart was transported via a chartered flight from Surat to Mumbai on Tuesday morning.
The two kidneys and a liver were transported to Ahmedabad by road. One kidney was transplanted into a 47-year-old woman from Ahmedabad and another into a 17-year-old student from Surat at IKDRC in Ahmedabad. The liver was given to a 43-year-old man from Ahmedabad. Two corneas were handed over to Surat-based Lok Drishti Eye bank.
Chhajed’s wife Jayaben said, “My husband had been involved in social service throughout his life.
He was always ready to help others in whichever way he could. We have just followed what he had been practicing all his life by donating his organs to people who need them. It death too my husband has helped six lives.”
Chhajed is survived by his wife and a 13-year-old son Jinag, a class VIII student.