A thanks-giving meet of 62 beneficiaries who have benefited by skin graft surgery after suffering fire accidents and their donor families were organized at the Ganga Hospitals here.
Ramani, Executive trustee of Shankara Eye Hospital was the chief guest for the event and Tarun R.Shah, President of Rotary club of Coimbatore Metropolis was the honorary guest. Dr.G.Shanmuganthan, Chairman of Ganga Hospital and families of the beneficiaries and the donors took part in the thanks giving meet.
Speaking on the occasion Dr.Rajasabapathy, Director of Ganga Hospital and Chairman of Dept of Plastic and Reconstructive surgery, said that "Like eye donation can provide a vision to the blind, skin donation can provide healthy skin to the needy who are victims of fire accidents and accidents of other forms. Skin graft surgeries help save thousands of people lead a normal life by plastic and reconstructive surgery. So far, 103 persons have donated their skin after their demise benefiting 62 beneficiaries by this noble donation through Ganga Hospitals's skin bank".
" 'Hope after fire' by Ganga Hospital is one such initiative which aims to give new lease of life to fire accident victims who have lost skin. However, skin donations should be made within 6 hours of one’s death. Hence, those who would like to donate skin can contact the Skin bank in Ganga Hospitals within the golden hour. A medical team would rush to the spot to harvest the skin on time,. As the team of experts would harvest just 0.3 mm of skin from the deceased's body, issues like bleeding doesn't not happen. The harvested skin can be stored up to 5 years", Dr. Rajasabapathy added.
"Since inception of the Skin bank, the harvested skin has been sent to other hospitals in Manipur, Jamsedpur and New Delhi benefiting several victims of accident especially fire accidents. Awareness among people about skin donation could save the lives of several thousands of people", he said.
Dr. Rajasabapathy concluded his speech by thanking the donors who attended the meet and also stressed on the importance of skin donation.