Grateful for the gift of life

LIKE THE MAJORITY of physicians all over the world, Dr Somrat Charuluxananan, chair of the Department of Anaesthesiology at Chulalongkorn University’s medical faculty, has always known that far too many patients die because of the chronic shortage of organs for transplant.
But it wasn’t until eight years ago when he developed advanced liver disease and needed a transplant to survive that he realised just how important organ donors are in helping to save the lives of others.
“I was lucky, as a match was found in time,” says the professor, adding that he has enjoyed good health since the operation and remains eternally grateful to the unknown donor who saved his life.
He tries to show that gratitude by ensuring that his annual intake of 200 medical students and more than 20 would-be anaesthetists also realise the importance of donors and the role they will play as qualified medical personnel in encouraging families to allow organ donations from their next of kin.
“If a person is declared brain dead, his organs can save as many as five lives with his heart, lung, liver and kidneys. He or she can also bring light to the blind by donating his eyes. Somrat says.
“More importantly perhaps, the recipients of the donated organ can carry on with their lives, be independent and are unlikely to become a burden of family and society. Many people tell me that I am a miracle of this hospital but I think I am just one of those small miracles granted by selfless people,” says Somrat, who is also the president of the Asian and Oceanic Society of Regional Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine.
“Unfortunately there are so many patients on the list for transplants that the majority will not receive this life-giving option. Organ donations have never been sufficient to meet demand.”
Somrat was infected with hepatitis through an accidental needlestick when he was a medical student . Regular checks followed but as he grew older and his strength slowly faded, the disease took a grip and he knew his only chance lay in a transplant.
“For a long time, I really wanted my body to cure itself,” he says.
“Here in Thailand, there are two opposing beliefs. Either a person or his/her family members do not permit organ donation because they are afraid that their loved ones will be born handicapped and without all their organs in the next life or they donate because it is the last meritorious act that they can do in life and will bring them luck in the next life,” he explains.
“Before I had liver transplant, I remembering advising an acquaintance to donate her son’s organs after he was killed in an accident. She did so and just as with all other donors, her son was honoured with the royal recognition as his funeral.
 “The Thai Red Cross Society serves as the centre for donations and this allows for equitable management and allocation of organs for transplant. To me, just thinking about donating your body merit in itself. Our medical students here are fortunate to study with Arjan Yai [“Teacher Yai”, the name given to cadavers donated to teaching hospitals], that’s why our country’s medical services are so well advanced.”
The first successful kidney transplant surgery at Chulalongkorn Hospital took place in 1972, In 1987, the first heart transplant was undertaken and it was followed by the first liver transplant just 10 days later.
 “The first case of lens transplant was much earlier, I think in 1959. It was long before my time but I remember seeing a picture of an air-hostage of Thai Airways holding a specially cooled container with the lens in it. Heart and liver transplants are major operations and they determine whether you live or die. The liver is a big organ covering almost the entire mid part of the body,” he adds.
“Today we are very advanced and we were recently able to conduct a successful pancreas transplant. Our surgeons recently handled their first cross-blood type kidney transplant. The world recognises these advances in Thai medical technology, I personally think the future challenges will lie in cloning,” he says.
“The latest technology also allows for the temporary transplant of an artificial heart or kidney until a donor one can be identified. And in my field, anaesthesia and pain medicine, I think we will see artificial or synthetic blood being given in the not too distant future.
“I think I am lucky to be experiencing these leaps and bounds in technology. At Chulalonglorn we currently provide anaesthesia services to more than 100 patients a day. Our duty is also to provide intensive care to critical patients as well as handle pain management for post-surgical cases. We treat not only acute pain but also chronic pain, including that caused by cancer.
“Another important part of the instruction we give is cardio pulmonary resuscitation [CPR]. This allows medical students and hospital staff to handle emergency situations, such as the one that occurred when the Erawan Shrine was bombed in August..”
Somrat, who wears many hats – doctor, academic lecturer, thesis adviser and medical researcher among them – is living proof that an organ donation allows its recipient to contribute to society.
“I might have to take medicine for the rest of my life but I do not live as a sick person. Living a worthy life is not hard. There are so many people that you love and who love you. In my case, my family, my relatives, my friends, my students, all came to donate blood for me.
“My advice to everyone is to do the best you can. Do not worry too much about the future or the past and just be efficient every day. I am glad that I am still just a normal person and one who has been lucky enough to work for Their Majesties and the royal family, for the late Supreme Patriarch,” he says.
 SPARE A THOUGHT
- If you’d like to donate your organs, make your intentions clear by filling out a form and sending it to the Organ Donation Centre of the Thai Red Cross, Therdprakiet Somdej Phrayanasungworn (Charoen Suwattano) Building, 5th Floor, Henry Dunant Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330
- Donors must be under 60 years of age, free of infectious diseases and cancer as well as chronic health conditions such as diabetes, heart conditions, kidney disorder, hypertension, liver disease, or alcoholism.
- For more information, call 1666 or visit www.RedCross.or.th.