Pune has witnessed its first organ donation by a foreign national (OCI Card Holder). The donor was a 46-year-old woman from Lonavala, who lived and worked in Australia's Melbourne.
She and her family, who were Australian citizens and OCI cardholders, had come to India to celebrate Diwali. During the visit, she suddenly developed a severe headache and was admitted to Aditya Birla Hospital in Pune for treatment. Sadly, despite all medical efforts, she was declared brain dead.
Her husband and brother consented to organ donation. As the donor was a foreign national, organ donation could not proceed without permission from the embassy of the donor’s country. It was necessary to obtain approval from the Australian Embassy before proceeding with the donation.
The hospital promptly sent an email to the embassy requesting permission for organ donation. It was a Sunday, a non-working day, and obtaining the required approval was challenging. Despite this, due to the dedicated efforts of the hospital administration and Zonal Transplant Coordination Centre (ZTCC) authorities, the approval was sought.
As per the SOTTO organ allocation guidelines, the organs were allocated by ZTCC Pune. The donor’s one kidney was allocated to Dr DY Patil Hospital, Pune, the second kidney to Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, Pune, and the liver to Dr DY Patil Hospital, Pune, while the heart was allocated to HN Reliance Hospital, Mumbai.
A Green Corridor was arranged by ZTCC Pune from Aditya Birla Hospital to HN Reliance Hospital, ensuring the timely transfer and transplantation of the heart. All four recipients are reported to be stable and recovering well.
Meanwhile, from January 1, 2025, to November 10, 2025, the ZTCC, Pune, successfully converted 66 brain stem death (BSD) donors into organ retrievals. During this period, a total of 186 organs were transplanted in the Pune zone. These included 106 kidneys, 59 livers, 4 hearts, 11 lungs, 1 combined kidney-pancreas transplant, 1 combined heart-lung transplant, and 1 combined kidney-heart transplant.
