Teamwork in transplant ops helped beat the clock

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: It was a race against time but teamwork and coordination involving at least 100 people in Kelantan and the Klang Valley made it all possible.
And what they achieved was to fulfil the wish of Teoh Chit Hwa to donate his organs to save the lives of others.
The race began when the parents of the 19-year-old student, who died of a brain tumour at Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital in Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, consented to the donation of his organs.
Those playing a part comprised doctors, nurses, drivers and telephone operators from four hospitals as well as police outriders in Kuala Lumpur, Sepang and Kelantan, and Malaysia Airlines and Royal Malaysia Air Force (RMAF) pilots.
Their efforts led to transplant operations of four organs – the heart, a pair of kidneys and the liver – being performed at the National Heart Institute (IJN), Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) and Selayang Hospital after a 14-member medical team boarded RMAF and MAS flights to reach Kubang Kerian by noon on May 11.
The operation to harvest the organs started at 1.30pm.
The first to be taken out, at 3pm, was the heart, which was rushed to the airport in Pengkalan Chepa where the RMAF mercy flight was waiting to fly back to Subang. The heart arrived at IJN at 5.10pm.
“The heart without blood flow must be transplanted within four hours,” said National Transplant Resource Centre chief transplant coordinator Dr Lela Yasmin Mansor.
A second team escorted by police outriders rushed from the operating theatre at 3.30pm to the airport with the pair of kidneys and liver to catch a 4.10pm MAS flight.
A technical glitch delaying the flight to 4.45pm turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
“We were fortunate. If not for the delay, we might have missed the flight,” said Dr Lela.
When the MAS flight touched down at KL International Airport, two of the organs were rushed to Selayang Hospital, and a kidney to HKL.
At Selayang Hospital, the liver recipient had been waiting in the operating theatre since 4pm. The transplant began at 10.40pm and the whole operation was completed by 2am.
Both kidney transplants were performed early on May 12, with that in Selayang Hospital completed by 7am and that in HKL by 5am.
A liver without blood flow must be transplanted within five to eight hours of procurement and kidneys within 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the team in Kubang Kerian also harvested Chit Hwa’s bones and skin, completing this by 7.30pm on May 11.
USM's Prof Dr Rani Samsudin, who helped establish the National Tissue Bank at USM Hospital, said the bones could benefit 20 to 25 people.
“The donation is really meaningful. I am proud of the family of the deceased for their willingness to share their loved one with others,” said Dr Rani.
Chit Hwa’s parents consented to the donation of various organs and tissues but not the corneas.
According to Dr Lela, the student had a primary brain tumour, which was not malignant and did not spread elsewhere, and this made it possible for him to donate his organs.
The transplant resource centre is open Monday to Friday and closed on Saturday.