Efforts on to make available medicines for transplant patients at subsidised rates: Minister

At 37, Sruthy Sasi is one of the longest living recipients of heart transplant in Kerala. This August, she will complete 13 years of living with a transplanted heart.

Ms. Sasi, a trained medical lab technician, says that living with a new heart does not make her feel different in any way, only that she gained a new family in the process. In 2013, at the age of 24, the heart from a brain-dead patient, Joseph Mathew, was transplanted into Ms. Sasi.

On Saturday (January 31, 2026), the family members of Joseph and Sruthi, along with several others, came together to celebrate the altruistic process of organ donation. The reunion of the donor and recipient families was held at the ‘Ripples of Life’ event jointly organised by Rotary Club of Cochin Downtown, NSS units of Mahatma Gandhi University, Liver Foundation of Kerala (LIFOK), and the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Kochi.

Inaugurating the event at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium at Kadavanthra here, Health Minister Veena George said efforts were on to make available medicines for transplant patients at subsidised rates. “This has been a long-pending demand. The medicines will be available as part of the ‘Karunya Sparsham’ zero profit scheme soon, similar to the availability of cancer drugs,” she added.

Ms. George stressed the need to strengthen institutional framework and make organ transplant surgeries more accessible. “Looking at figures of the past 15 years, we see that the number of people in need of organ transplants in the State is going up. We need to develop infrastructure in the government sector. We should also dispel all misinformation surrounding organ donation and ensure transparency,” she said.

Dr. G.N. Ramesh, gastroenterologist, presided over the function. Hibi Eden, MP, Kerala State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (K-SOTTO) executive director and State convener of Mrithasanjeevani organ transplant programme Noble Gracious, IMA Kochi president Dr. Athul Joseph Manuel, Dr. Jose Chacko Periapuram, Dr. Dinesh Balakrishnan, Dr. Subramanian Iyer, Dr. S. Sudheendran, Dr. Charles Panackel, Dr. Mathew Jacob, and Kochouseph Chittilappilly, among others, were present.

Family members of Binoy Oliparambil, a Varappuzha native whose organs were donated post brain death, were also felicitated. It was with this donation that the first-ever double-hand transplant was done on Thodupuzha native Manu T.R.

Speaking to The Hindu, Binoy’s mother Baby said the decision did not come easy. “It was my elder son who broached the topic of donation. He asked me to take a decision, and that is how we decided to donate the organs, including my son’s hands,” said the 60-year-old Baby. “We are one family now. We travel together and are there for each other,” she added.

An organ donation pledge was also held.