Brain-dead Spanish woman donates organs at Mumbai hospital, gives life to five

A Spanish woman was declared brain dead after she collapsed on a bus here. She had come to India on a tour after her retirement.

Mumbai:A Spanish woman identified as Teresa Fernandes, who was declared brain dead after suffering an intracranial hemorrhage, gave new lease of life to five persons after her family members agreed to donate her organs at Jaslok Hospital in Mumbai. The foreign national had come to Mumbai on a tour. She was declared brain-dead on January 5, after she collapsed on the bus while going to Elephanta Caves here.

Fernandes had a history of high blood pressure due to which she suffered internal bleeding, affecting a critical area of the brain, informed Dr Azad Irani, a neurosurgeon at the hospital. Despite the best efforts of the doctors, the blood pressure could not be controlled, hindering surgery. After the doctors declared her brain dead, her family members gave a nod for organ donation, hoping she would live through her organs.

After her family consented to organ donation, the woman's heart, lung, liver, and both kidneys were retrieved. The woman's heart was given to a patient in Chennai. The lung was given to another patient, while her liver and both kidneys were donated to a local patient here.

Teresa recently retired from the Department of Pharmacy and Micrology at a private hospital. Before coming to India, she also visited Iceland and South Korea. Fernandes is survived by a son and a daughter. The Spanish woman's daughter Perez Fernandes came to India on January 7 and collected her mother's mortal remains from the hospital.

So far, two people have donated their organs in the last 12 days of January 2023, while in 2022, 41 people donated organs. The number of people who donated organs in 2021 was 37, while in 2019, a massive 76 people donated organs, the highest participation of organ donors in recent times, said John Menezes, a social worker in Mumbai.