A week after he arrived at the Global Health City here, former Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead at 1.40 pm on Tuesday. After four days of futile efforts to find a suitable cadaver liver to transplant into Deshmukh, doctors were successful on Tuesday — three cadaver organs were offered to the ailing man in the 24 hours preceding his death, but by the time his condition deteriorated.
“There were two livers available locally and one in Maharashtra, but it was too late for him,” announced Dr K Ravindranath, Chairman of Global Hospitals Group. Several states had offered to procure the organ and airlift it, but the delay in finding one proved deadly for him.
Deshmukh had indeed been battling “liver failure, circulatory failure and renal failure,” confirmed Dr Mohamed Rela, who heads the liver transplant team at the hospital. The two-time CM had been suffering from liver cirrhosis that had developed into cancer. In addition, his kidneys were badly affected and he needed dialysis immediately after he was admitted to a private hospital in Mumbai last week.
Though he was extremely unstable for the first 48 hours, Deshmukh began responding to treatment and his vital organs stabilised. “I felt that there may be a small window of opportunity to try a transplant and that is why we put him on the list in the urgent category,” said Rela. Doctors not only monitored his organs but also supplied his heart with drugs to continue “reasonable” circulation.
Though it was a slim possibility, the transplant would have been the only chance for Deshmukh to beat the disease ravaging his body. “There is no guarantee that a transplant would have saved him, but that was his best shot,” said Ravindranath. Eventually, his condition started deteriorating and he needed 100 per cent oxygen support — despite which his tissues weren’t getting much air. “There was intense acid build up and finally he had a cardiac arrest and passed away,” said Rela.
Deshmukh’s family was fully aware that his condition was worsening since Tuesday morning and were prepared for the worst, said hospital sources. “They are brave and knowledgeable. Understandably they are devastated, but they’ve managed to weather through this great loss,” said Ravindranath, who remained close to Deshmukh’s son Riteish and his wife Genelia over the last few days.
Deshmukh’s family, including his three sons and wife Vaishali, were by his side immediately after doctors announced the time of death. They, however, chose to maintain their media silence and mourned silently in the solitary ward where Deshmukh’s body was kept.
It will be airlifted to his native district of Latur in Maharashtra on Wednesday for the funeral as the country rings in its 65th Independence Day.
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