Written by: Express News Service
2 min readChandigarhMar 15, 2026 09:11 AM IST
In a moving tribute to the spirit of humanity and compassion, 16 braveheart donor families were honoured at PGI for their extraordinary decision to consent to organ donation amid their personal tragedy. This act has impacted 80 lives, including giving a second lease of life to 52 patients suffering from end-stage organ failure and restoring sight to 28 corneal blind patients through organ and tissue transplantation at PGI. The tribute ceremony was held during the inaugural session of SAMARTHAN 2026, a CME-cum-Workshop on organ donation and transplantation organised by ROTTO North, PGI, which witnessed participation by over 200 delegates from the medical fraternity and civil society across the region.
Prof Vivek Lal, director, PGI, said, “PGI owes its distinct place in organ transplantation to all the donor families. It would not have been possible to reach this far without the courageous decisions and selfless gestures of these families. There is no metric to measure such a magnanimous gift of life. It is deeply gratifying that the donor families trusted PGI with their noblest wish to save others’ lives and that the institute could live up to that trust.”
Dr Anil Kumar, director, National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation, New Delhi, said that the only sustainable way to bridge the gap between organ availability and requirement is to create a culture of voluntary deceased organ donation. He emphasised that when society empathises with patients waiting for organs and pledges for organ donation, countless lives can be saved.
