The blood circulation of a 55-year-old woman was restarted after her death to donate multiple organs to different people, said HCMCT Manipal Hospital, a private hospital in Dwarka, on Saturday (November 8, 2025).
Dr. Shrikanth Srinivasan, Chairman, Manipal Institute of Critical Care Medicine, HCMCT Manipal Hospital, Dwarka, said, “Organ donation in India is usually done in a situation of brain death, when the heart is still beating, and blood supply is continuing to the vital organs. In donation after circulatory death (DCD), as the heart has stopped, there is no circulation, and the organs have to be retrieved within minutes.”
“By starting Normothermic Regional Perfusion (NRP) we were able to not only keep the liver and kidneys alive, but it also gave NOTTO and transplant teams enough time to retrieve, allot and transplant organs,” he added.
As per the hospital, on November 5, Geeta Chawla, 55, was rushed to the hospital with difficulty in breathing. After she died at 8:43 p.m. on November 6, her family approached the medical team to fulfil her wish of donating her organs.
“Once her heart stopped and ECG showed flat line for 5 minutes, she was declared dead. A large team of doctors then swung into action. For the first time in Asia, her circulation was restarted by placing her on ExtraCorporeal Membrane Oxygenator (ECMO). Restoration of blood flow kept her abdominal organs alive as she was moved to the OT and transplant teams retrieved her liver and kidneys. The procedure, called Normothermic Regional Perfusion (NRP), kept the organs alive for 4 hours after death, allowing urgent allotment of organs,” the hospital said in a statement.
Her liver was transplanted to a 48-year-old man at ILBS, while the kidneys were transplanted to 63-year-old and 58-year-old men at Max Hospital, Saket. Ms. Geeta’s corneas and skin were also donated, offering hope and healing to multiple recipients, as per the hospital.
Published – November 09, 2025 02:19 am IST
