BENGALURU: In a first for Karnataka , the hands of a 22-year-old brain dead man were retrieved to be transplanted to a man in Puducherry who lost both his hands in a factory crusher accident. Preserved in a chemical solution and wrapped in ice slush, the hands travelled 300km in three hours from Bengaluru to JIPMER on Monday.The donor, Virat (name changed), grew up in the Bengaluru-Hosur belt and his family is from Bihar. He worked with a telecom service provider and was heading to Anekal to collect money from a retailer on November 15 when he met with an accident. Riding pillion on a colleague’s two-wheeler, Virat sustained injuries to the brain and spinal cord. He was first taken to the Anekal government hospital and later shifted to a private hospital.In the early hours of November 16, he was taken to Narayana Health City even as his condition was deteriorating. Two days later, he was declared brain dead. Virat’s parents agreed to donate his hands along with his vital organs. Before handing over the body for postmortem, the donor was fitted with prosthetic hands.Virat’s cousin told TOI, “The family has already lost three sons and he was the fourth to die. His parents are very poor. His father works as a security guard and his mother is a daily-wage labourer. The family has lost a bread winner.” His last rites will be performed near Hosur on Tuesday.Virat’s hands were transported to Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research in Puducherry at 12.15pm on Monday. They reached the destination at 4.15pm where the 31-yearold was awaiting surgery. Virat saved the lives of at least seven others as doctors harvested his heart, heart valves, kidneys, liver and eyes for transplantation.Virat’s heart was donated to an 18-year-old girl from Madhya Pradesh who was suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle. His liver was donated to a 67-year-old man from Bengaluru who was suffering from liver cancer. He had been on the wait list since August 2018. His transplant was also done at NH. One of Virat’s kidneys went to a patient in Apollo Hospitals, Mysuru.This is the first case of hand retrieval for transplantation recorded in Karnataka. Authorities at Jeevasarthakathe, a state government body that approves cadaver organ donation, said no one had registered from the state seeking hand transplantation. Jeevasarthakathe reached out to neighbouring states on Sunday. “There is a lack of awareness on hand transplantation in the state,” an official said.

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