Bengaluru: Live heart covers 19 km in 19 minutes
Bengaluru Traffic Police created a green corridor to transfer a live heart from Sagar Hospital
Bengaluru: In a heart warming incident, Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) created a green corridor to transfer a live heart from Sagar Hospital in Bannerghatta Road to Narayana Hrudayalaya in Bommasandra on Hosur Road. The ambulance was escorted by Bengaluru traffic police and it covered 19 kilometres in 19 minutes, which would have otherwise taken at least 45 minutes.
The donor of the heart Chetan R (22) was pronounced brain dead last week after he met with an accident at his workplace. Chetan's father, Ramanna M was heartbroken over the loss. However, he remembered seeing news of a heart transplant that took place in Chennai in 2014 and was inspired to do the same.
Subsequently, Zonal Coordination Committee of Karnataka for Transplantation was informed and preparations were done to transfer the heart to Narayana Hrudalaya. The ambulance travelled via. Dairy circle, Forum mall Junction, Madiwala, Silkboard Junction, BETL Elevated Flyover and Hosur road. The ambulance left Sagar hospital at 2:15pm and reached Narayana Hrudayalaya at 2:34 pm.
This is the fifth time BTP successfully provided a signal free green corridor an ambulance for transporting a live organ. The police also thanked the commuters of these stretch for their cooperation.
Additional Commissioner of BTP, M A Saleem said, “It was smooth drive as it was a non-peak hour and a well coordinated effort.”
The fortunate recipient is a 63-year-old patient who suffering from Dilated Cardiomyopathy for over four months. Dr Julius Punnen, Heart Transplant Surgeon at Narayana Health told Deccan Chronicle, “Under this condition the pumping action of the heart becomes inefficient and is not able to meet the demands of the body. This particular patient was under medical supervision at our hospital for over 100 days.”
He further added, “We heard about the availability of the heart on Wednesday night and started preparing. Then we got the police involved and cleared all legal matters. The transplant of the heart took one hour and for the entire procedure it took about 4 hours.”