A girl Harnarayan Prajapati, a resident of Sector 121, Noida. She is one of the six children of a Noida-based tailor who was brought to AIIMS Trauma Centre at 11.30 pm on Wednesday, with a head injury. The CT scan showed a bullet in the right side of her head, but the parents were not aware she was shot at. The girl was declared brain dead at 11.40 am on Friday after a series of tests meant to assess her brain condition confirmed brain stem death.
“The bullet showed up in the CT scan. It probably entered from the left side and was lodged inside the right side of the head. The parents surprisingly were not even aware that their girl was shot. They told us they heard some noise and found their daughter unresponsive when they reached her. They had no clue about the bullet injury,” said Dr. Deepak Gupta, professor, department of neurosurgery, AIIMS.
“She was on a cot outside (the house) we are two siblings and we wear inside. Suddenly there was a loud noise and she called for her mother. We rushed out in saw her bleeding profusely. We did not know what caused it. We could never imagine she was shot yes we don’t have animosity with anyone. We rushed her to a couple of doctors, and then to a hospital in Noida where she was treated initially and later doctors referred her to AIIMS trauma center. Doctors told us she was shot. We don’t know what happened and why”, said the father of six-year-old girl Harnarayan Prajapati. After they discovered that the head injury she had was from a bullet shot, they filed a police complaint and police are investigating the case.
“Glasgow coma score was low, there were no brain stem reflexes, and even the apnea test that was repeated twice in the gap of 12 hours come back positive both times. We noticed very early on that there has been changes in her brain that were very irreversible; therefore we started counseling her parents”, said Dr. Gupta, he also said that this was the first cadaver donation in such a young age group at a Trauma Centre.
“Cadaver organ donation is rare in this country and the family of a brain-dead child agreeing to donate organ for harvesting and transplantation is rare, making this act an inspiring one. We need such more families to agree to donate organs of their kin if declared brain dead as demand for organs is very high and thousands of patients die in want of an organ for transplantation”.
Dr. Gupta said, making this act inspiring as the parents agreed to help more others who are in need, this six-year-old girl’s organ can save the life of others was truly inspiring.
