Corridor set up between Command Hospital, airport to transport organs

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Under this mock scenario of organ donation, it was assumed that an organ had been harvested by a team of doctors in Command Hospital and that it needed to be urgently rushed to New Delhi for transplantation. The Panchkula Police was given advance information about the movement of the ambulance from the Command Hospital, and additional police personnel were deployed for the smooth movement.

Panchkula Police officials said that the old Panchkula route was taken to reach the Kalka-Zirakpur highway. The traffic going towards Zirakpur was diverted on the service lane and the highway was kept free of any traffic. All major road junctions were manned by extra traffic policemen, and from the Zirakpur junction, the road towards the airport was taken, which again was kept free of traffic. Coordination with the Punjab Police and the Chandigarh Police was also done in order to keep the road clear from Zirakpur up to the airport. No major traffic disruption was witnessed at any point on this route, said the police officials.

The air corridor which is planned to be set up would also entail sharing advance information about the proposed special flight which would take an organ to New Delhi. In this case, close liaison would be maintained with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) of the Indian Air Force authorities in Chandigarh and the ATC in New Delhi to ensure that priority for landing and take-off is given to the aircraft carrying the organ and that no time is wasted waiting to land or take off, said officials.

The unique road corridor was set up on the occasion of World Organ Donation Day on Thursday. Major General Rajvir Singh, the Commandant of Command Hospital, Chandimandir, said the Command Hospital, Chandimandir, had been a leading hospital in northern India to promote organ donation activities, and had carved out a niche for itself by carrying out eight multi-organ retrievals of liver, kidneys and corneas, including from PGIMER, Chandigarh, in record time.

The event was marked by a solemn ceremony in which the next of kin and families of the deceased donors were felicitated by Dr D P Lochan, Director General (Health Services), Haryana, and Maj Gen Manmohan Singh, MG Medical of HQ, Western Command.

A motivating talk and video film on organ donation by Sudhir Dewan, director, Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network Foundation, was also held highlighting the virtues of organ donation for patients with end-stage disease. He emphasised that there was an extreme shortfall of organs and most patients died on the waiting list.