VILASRAO DESHMUKH PASSES AWAY

Union Science and Technology Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh passed away on Tuesday after all efforts to find a liver and kidney for transplant failed. The 67-year-old former Maharashtra chief minister was suffering from liver cancer. He was brought to the Global Hospitals last week from Mumbai in an air ambulance.

A team doctors, including noted liver transplant surgeon Dr Mohamed Rela, had put in their best efforts to save him. Deshmukh was on life-support systems.

Efforts to save Deshmukh life suffered a major setback after a brain-dead man whose liver and kidney were to be transplanted, died hours before the transplant.

Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day after the news of passing away of Deshmukh came in.

Earlier, an attempt to harvest liver from a brain dead donor from a government hospital here had proved futile as the man died before doctors could operate on him on Tuesday night, they said.

A team from Global Hospitals, where Deshmukh was admitted on August 6, had planned to retrieve the liver from the 31-year-old donor at the hospital, but he died, forcing them to look for another donor, the sources said.

“The hospital is looking for a liver donor,” they said. Asked whether they were desperately looking for a liver, they said, “In a way, yes.”

The 67-year-old former Maharashtra chief minister had shown signs of improvement and been on and off the ventilator before being prepared for a transplant, the sources said.

Deshmukh was brought here from Mumbai in an air ambulance in a critical condition.