Life renewed: Rawalpindi man’s organs save seven

Seven unprecedented transplants from a single body make medical history in Pakistan

RAWALPINDI:

The death of a young man has recently injected new life into seven people after an unprecedented transplant of seven donated organs in the medical history of the country.  

Both kidneys, eyes, liver, heart and pancreas obtained through transplant will now allow the recipients to cherish their lives. They will always consider themselves as part of Uzair bin Yasin’s body.

Uzair, who hailed from the district of Bagh in Azad Kashmir and only lived 36 springs of his life, was the owner of a cosmetic store in Rawalpindi. He was taken to the CMH Hospital after his condition deteriorated all of a sudden. A CT scan revealed that Uzair’s brain had died. He was immediately transferred to the Safari Hospital in Bahria Town. Over time, Uzair’s sister Dr Seema, who provides emergency services at a hospital in the UK, and his other sister Dr Sadaf, who is in Pakistan, were sent the CT scan reports. They didn't take much time to acknowledge this fact.

Meanwhile, Uzair was shifted to a ventilator. After consulting with their sister-in-law Faiza Hussain and other family members, the two sisters made a big decision that Uzair’s body organs should be donated when the ventilator comes off.

Before his burial at the graveyard of Gulistan Colony, expert doctors of Bahria Safari Hospital and Pakistan Institute of Kidney and Liver Institute (PKLI) Lahore removed two kidneys, liver and pancreas and both eyes safely and started the process of transplant of these organs in other patients.

For the first time in Pakistan, the team of doctors from Bahria Safari Hospital led by Dr Naveed Sarwar, HOD Nephrology, Major General (retired) Dr Arshad Mahmood, HOD Urology, Dr Ruqqiya Tahir, Brigadier Dr Sarwar Alvi, Dr Faisal, Dr Ismail and Dr Ali Mirza, played a crucial role in the successful transplantation of seven organs.

After experiencing kidney failure multiple times due to dialysis, twenty-year-old Raja Ali Riaz and Zainab Imtiaz each underwent kidney transplants, and they are now leading normal lives. By grafting a part of the same liver, Hamdan from Kohat has been given a new life at the age of seven. He is currently in the ICU of a hospital, and the doctor says he will recover soon. The remaining portion of Uzair’s liver is to be transplanted into another patient at the PKLI.

Another patient Hasnain Ahmed, who was suffering from severe discomfort due to diabetes, has also been given a new life through the liver transplant. Both corneas of Uzair, which have been transferred to the eye bank of Al-Shifa Trust Hospital, will undergo transplantation in two separate patients.

Uzair’s wife Faiza Hussain, ten-year-old daughter Urwa Uzair, mother and doctor sisters have also met the patients who were donated organs.

Uzair’s cousin Faisal Rafiq told The Express Tribune that Uzair was a compassionate and loving young man who used to find solace in his life by helping the poor and needy. Now his soul will surely find peace as seven people have been given new lives thanks to the organs donated from his body, he added.

“Our family is now satisfied with the thought that though Uzair is no more, his presence will always be felt in the form of these seven people,” Faisal said.

Deputy Assistant Administrator of Bahria Safari Hospital, Dr Saim bin Saeed said that transplanting organs from one body to seven people is the first case in the history of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22^nd, 2024.