In a poignant reminder of how organ donation can turn personal loss into life-saving opportunity, the family of Kottarakkara native G. Radhakrishnan Potti agreed to donate his organs after he was declared brain dead at KIMSHEALTH hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, setting in motion a carefully coordinated transplant effort that will benefit multiple patients across Kerala.
Potti, 67, a retired Revenue department employee from the Kollam Collectorate, had been admitted to the hospital on September 21 after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage. Despite medical intervention, his condition deteriorated, and brainstem death was declared on Friday evening. Following that diagnosis, his wife and daughter informed hospital authorities that they were willing to donate his organs, a decision that led to the retrieval of both kidneys, the liver, skin and cornea on Saturday.
The donation once again underscored Kerala's growing institutional capacity to manage deceased-donor transplants, where time-sensitive coordination between hospitals, transplant authorities and police is critical. The Kerala State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation, or K-SOTTO, coordinated the identification of recipients and the allocation process, ensuring that the organs were matched and dispatched without delay.
According to the hospital and transplant coordination process, the liver and one kidney were allocated to end-stage patients undergoing treatment at KIMSHEALTH hospital itself. The other kidney was assigned to an end-stage renal patient at Government Medical College, Kottayam, reflecting the statewide network through which organs are distributed based on medical urgency and compatibility. The skin was to be harvested and stored in the skin bank at Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, while the cornea was to be collected by the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology in the city.
The movement of the kidney to Kottayam required a dedicated green corridor, a traffic-free route created by police to speed the ambulance's journey by road from Thiruvananthapuram. Such corridors have become an essential part of organ transplantation logistics in Kerala, where even a few minutes can affect the viability of an organ and the success of a transplant. The police arrangement ensured that the kidney could reach Government Medical College, Kottayam, within the narrow window required for transplantation.
For Potti's family, the decision came at a moment of profound grief, but one that will now be remembered for its impact on several other families waiting for a second chance at life. Organ donation after brain death remains one of the most powerful forms of medical altruism, and in this case, the consent of his wife and daughter transformed a tragic medical event into a coordinated chain of recovery for patients in need.
Kerala has in recent years built a reputation for stronger organ donation awareness and transplant coordination, with K-SOTTO playing a central role in matching donors and recipients and streamlining the process across institutions. Saturday's donation adds to that record, highlighting both the medical infrastructure and the public willingness that make such donations possible.
While the source material does not detail the recipients' identities, the allocation itself reflects the urgency that governs organ transplantation: end-stage patients, often with no other treatment options, depend on the availability of a donor organ and the speed with which it can be moved from donor hospital to recipient centre. In that sense, the green corridor, the hospital teams and the transplant authority all became part of one life-saving operation.
Potti's final act, enabled by his family's consent, will now extend beyond the walls of the hospital. His kidneys, liver, skin and cornea may each help restore function, relieve suffering or improve quality of life for people facing severe organ failure or tissue loss. In a state where organ donation continues to depend on both public awareness and institutional readiness, this case stands as another example of how a single decision can alter many lives at once.