Kochi boy heart beats for Maharashtra man in Chennai
This is probably the first time organs airlifted from Kochi were transplanted on a recipient in Chennai
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-08-12 03:37 GMT
Chennai: The heart and lungs of a Kochi teenager airlifted to Chennai were successfully transplanted on a 24-year-old heart patient from Maharashtra at Fortis Malar Hospital, Adyar on Tuesday evening.
The heart and lungs of Pranav (19), hailing from Kayamkulam declared brain dead following a road accident on Monday, were harvested by a team of doctors at Lakeshore Hospital in Kochi. The organs reached the airport here at about 2 pm and were rushed to the hospital located about 12 km away. The ambulance carrying the organs covered the entire distance in about 9 minutes, thanks to perfect coordination by the police and medical teams.
According to sources, the ambulance which left the airport at 2.11 pm had reached Fortis Malar at 2.20 pm traversing the arterial areas of Kathipara, Raj Bhavan, Cancer Institute and Madhya Kailash.
Sources informed that a team of doctors under Dr. K. R. Balakrishnan, who performed the surgery at Fortis Malar Hospitals here, geared up for the crucial transplantation and the team lost no time in executing the task. The transplant was successfully performed a little past 5 pm. The recipient was suffering from a congenital heart disease (hole in the heart) from an young age and this had affected his lungs.
His condition had worsened when he consulted the doctors and by this time it was too late to rectify the defect and the only option left was transplantation.
Owing to the severity of his condition, the patient who was on the waiting list, was pushed up on the transplant list for the twin-organs transplantation. This is probably the first time organs airlifted from Kochi were transplanted on a recipient here. Apart from Fortis Malar, Apollo hospitals, Global and Dr. Cherian heart foundation have successfully performed organs brought from Bengaluru and Hyderabad in the past.