As an Army junior commissioned officer gave a fresh lease of life to six critically ill persons across the country through organ donation after death, it also marked a new milestone for the Command Hospital, Chandimandir, which carried out its first lung retrieval procedure.
In an act of humanity and compassion, the family of Naib Risaldar Virender Singh, donated his organs after he was declared brain dead on July 21. Belonging to the Armoured Corps, he had suffered a brain stroke while deployed in high-altitude areas of Ladakh at 16,000 feet. Despite immediate medical aid and swift aero-medical evacuation to the Command Hospital on July 16, he could not recover.
Displaying courage and resilience even under immense grief, his wife, Kusum, volunteered to donate his organs. Five vital organs — two kidneys, liver, lungs and two corneas were successfully retrieved and transplanted to patients seeking organs for saving their life.
Credit: Western Command
This is the first lung retrieval in the history of Command Hospital and is a medical milestone which epitomises the technical prowess of Army’s medical stream, a defence spokesperson said on Thursday.
The organs were allocated to eligible recipients across the country through the organ sharing network. One kidney and both corneas were transplanted at Command Hospital, Chandimandir, the second kidney was sent to SOTTO, Haryana, the liver to Army Hospital (Research and Referral), New Delhi and the lungs to KIMS Hyderabad.
Army
A green corridor was established with coordination between Military Police, civil administration and local authorities for timely transfer of the donated organs.
The Western Command Hospital in Chandimandir is a pioneering Armed Forces medical centre in the region for organ retrieval and transplantation. Recognising its strides, the facility was conferred the Best Emerging National Organ Transplant Retrieval Centre award by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
In May 2026, the hospital’s transplant team carried out the first heart retrieval procedure, successfully harvesting the heart of a brain-dead donor, which was swiftly airlifted to Delhi in 30 minutes to save the life of a critically ill 14-year-old Sudanese boy admitted for treatment at a hospital in the Capital.
In June 2024, the hospital also marked a first for any Armed Forces medical institution, by successfully harvesting the pancreas from a brain-dead serving soldier from the Punjab Regiment, whose father had consented for the cause.
In the past, Western Command Hospital has performed several organ harvesting and transplant operations, providing a new lease of life to critically ill persons by harvesting kidneys, liver and heart from brain-dead patients.
Organ donation was started in the Armed Forces in the late 2000s and introduced at Western Command Hospital in 2014. The process is coordinated by the Armed Forces Organ Retrieval and Transplantation Authority in New Delhi.