Subedar’s death gives new life to six

Even in death, this brave army man saved six lives. Subedar SP Singh, who died on June 29 from a brain stroke, donated his organs to six people giving them a “new lease of life”. Singh (49), was posted at the Army Medical Corps in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, and doctors at the Army Hospital Research and Referral (AHR&R) here said he died of subarachnoid haemorrhage (bleeding in the brain).

 “His family donated his heart, liver, two kidneys and two corneas,” said brigadier AK Sharma, administration head at AHR&R. Singh hailed from Bulandshahar in Uttar Pradesh. “Once he complained of severe headache. After investigation at a civil hospital in Gwalior, he was referred to AHR&R. But despite their best efforts doctors could not save him,” said subedar MP Singh, the deceased’s brother-in-law. “We could not save his life but by fulfiling his wish of donating his organs, we could at least save the lives of other people. We are happy to know that he lives in these six people.”

“His heart was transplanted to Arifa, wife of a serving soldier, who was suffering from cardiomyopathy,” said brigadier M Luthra of the department of cardiology at AHR&R. Twenty-nine-year-old Arifa, a mother of three, was diagnosed with this rare and fatal heart disease where transplant was the only option. “She was suffering from the disease for the past five years and was unable to walk without help,” Luthra said.

Singh’s liver was transplanted on a retired officer who was suffering from terminal liver failure, said brig. Sharma. One of his kidneys was donated to the wife of a serving soldier suffering from terminal renal failure and the other was given to the AIIMS. A serving soldier and a retired officer received the corneas, he said.