Pune, Jun 8 (IANS): On his birthday, a brain-dead man from Pune gifted new life to four people after his family donated his organs to needy patients in Maharashtra, officials said here on Saturday.

The 32-year-old welder had suffered a stroke a few days ago and was rushed to the KEM Hospital here.

However, on Friday his condition deteriorated sharply and finally he was declared 'brain-dead' by the medical team treating him.

However, his wife, stoic in the tragedy that befell her husband on his birthday, consented to the cadaver donations, and signed documents permitting the hospital to harvest his heart, liver and both kidneys.

The gesture of the young wife, who is pregnant and also has a six-year-old son, has helped give a new lease of life to at least four desperate patients who were the recipients of the deceased's organs.

It also helped Nagpur record its first-ever heart transplant operation, successfully performed on a young farmer at the New Era Hospital, after the welder's heart was rushed from Pune.

While the liver was retained by the KEM Hospital for a patient there, one kidney each went to waiting patients at the Ruby Hall Clinic and the Sassoon General Hospital, said a spokesperson for Zonal Transplant Coordination Centre (ZTCC).

As per policy, hospitals do not disclose names of the donors or recipients without their consent.