Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Karunanidhi praises Hithendran’s parents

— Photo: DIPR.

Poignant moment: Local Administration Minister M.K.Stalin (second from left) and Labour Minister T. M. Anbarasan (third from left), with S. Ashokan and Pushpanjali, parents of A.P. Hithendran in Thirukazhkundram on Thursday.

CHENNAI: Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi commended the gesture of parents of A.P.Hithendran, the boy, whose organs were donated on Tuesday. He praised the parents, the quick and dedicated work by the team at Apollo and Frontier Lifeline, and the traffic police.

Sixteen-year-old Hithendran’s heart, kidneys, corneas and liver were removed at Apollo Hospital, where he had been admitted, to be used on patients waiting their turn for a fresh lease of life. “It’s a news that has to be praised with intense feeling,” Mr.Karunanidhi said in a statement and added that in the midst of such an overwhelming tragedy, the family had taken such a decision and had conveyed it to the doctors at Apollo Hospital. The hospital also took prompt action. This was important since if the organs removed were eyes, these can be kept for a maximum of 14 days before it was given to a donor. But a heart should be given to a donor in 30 minutes.

Detailing the sequence of events, he said that when doctors in Apollo enquired, they realised that Dr.Cherian in Frontier Lifeline had put out a request for a heart for a nine-year old. The need was to reach the heart in half an hour to the hospital — from Greams Road to Mogappair. The traffic police ensured that the heart reached the hospital in 11 minutes and a team headed by Dr.Cherian operated on the child to replace her heart with Hithendran’s.

On Thursday, Local Administration Minister M.K.Stalin, along with Labour Minister T. M. Anbarasan, visited Hithendran’s parents and conveyed in person the Chief Minister’s appreciation.

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