First heart transplant:
The body of 22-year-old Pradeep Kumara Sampath of Hectar of Udunuwara, whose heart was donated for the first heart transplant in the country, was buried yesterday at the Hectar Public Cemetry in Wellambada.
The parents of Sampath who faced a brain death following a traffic accident, donated his heart and the two kidneys to give lives to three other persons. The two kidneys were donated to two kidney patients in Melsiripura and Dehiattakandiya.
Sampath’s father said the motorcycle his son was riding with his son-in-law collided with a van. Sampath was admitted to Bambarakanda Hospital with injuries and was transferred to Kandy Base Hospital.
“While he was being treated in the ICU, the doctors informed me that he had faced a brain death,” father said. “When the doctors said that the organs of the child could be donated for transplants, I agreed, the father said.
Sampath was the second of three siblings and the only boy in the family.