Tragic loss leads to generous donation: Woman donates 5-month-old fetus to AIIMS Delhi for medical research

New Delhi [India], September 9 (ANI): After the heartbeat of her five-month-old fetus stopped in the womb, a 32-year-old mother decided to donate the fetus to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, for research work.
Speaking to ANI, Dr. SB Ray, HOD, Anatomy department, AIIMS Delhi, said, "The Mother underwent a C-section to deliver the fetus when the heartbeat of the baby stopped beating, within the mother's uterus, and on examination, it was known that the heartbeat of the baby had stopped. So after that, the baby was delivered. I believe that there was a cesarean section, and the baby was delivered. Cesarean section is usually not taken in such cases, but because they wanted to donate the body, the mother underwent a cesarean section, so the baby is complete."
The doctor said that he got a call from the Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation (ORBO) about the donation of a fetus.
The couple decided to donate the fetus on Sunday. Dr. Ray said, "I received a call from ORBO that such a donation of a fetus was there. I immediately said, Yes, we want to take the donation, because this is the first time that a baby has been donated before birth. A baby has been donated to our department so that we can study the baby and we can understand the development of the various organs and use this as knowledge for future treatment."
"The organs of infant were under-developed, so cannot be donated, organs can only be taken when the baby is alive, or when the person is alive, like in brain dead conditions, or if there is coma, like that, when the brain is not working, but the heart is beating and the blood is going to all the organs, then only organ donation is possible," said Dr. Ray
Dr. Ray said, "I met the father, he was very committed. He wanted to do everything possible for the donation of the baby".
"See all MBBS students, they learn their subject by doing the dissection of the human body. So, human body donations are very precious in medical science, and in that regard, this is the first time. We call this the fetus. So, this is the first time a fetus has been donated through a channel which has not been previously utilised for fetal donation", explained Dr Ray.
"Fetus can be used for studying the development of the various organs, and also, what are the factors which can affect the growth of the organ, the development of the organ in the newborn, so that we can find some drug targets to cure diseases," the doctor said further.
"The second reason is that the baby may be small for its age. Normally, when a baby is born, it is about three kilograms. But suppose a baby is two kilograms or 2.2 kilograms, then its organs are not fully developed, and it may not survive. So, we call that small for this age of babies, then, what is the age of the fetus compared to that of a normal weight fetus? This fetus was having much less weight. So, it has a number of problems," he said. (ANI)