Heart transplant for teenager made possible with Green Corridor

A teenaged boy got a new lease of life here on Friday as a Green Corridor was created on the Mehrauli-Gurgaon road to enable a heart transplant to be performed by rushing a live cadaveric heart over a distance of 21.9 km from Fortis hospital to Delhi's AIIMS in 38 minutes and 55 seconds.

Peak hour traffic and a security code set up for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's movement gave the right of way to transport the live cadaveric heart through the piling traffic.

Perfect coordination between all stakeholders and patience exhibited by the general public helped in creating the Green Corridor through which the live heart was transported successfully.

The heart taken from a 34-year-old road accident victim for a 13-year-old boy was seamlessly transported from Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurgaon's sector 44 to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi.

The cardiac transplant team from AIIMS arrived at the facility and the heart was harvested. The ambulance left the Fortis premises and reached AIIMS, crossing MG Road, Chhattarpur, IIT and Green Park in 38 minutes, 55 seconds.

The deceased donor was brought to FMRIA on Tuesday night after he had met with a road accident on the Alwar Bypass road in Bhiwadi in Rajasthan, earlier that evening.

The 34-year-old patient had received fatal injuries on his head. Despite relentless efforts by the neurosurgery team the patient could not be revived and showed signs of brain death by Thursday evening.

The family was counselled and they agreed to donate the heart, liver and both the kidneys. While the heart went to AIIMS, the liver was transplanted into a 40-year-old man.

One kidney was transplanted to save the life of a 31-year-old woman while the second kidney was transplanted into a 47-year-old man. The liver and both kidneys were transplanted at FMRI.

This is the second Green Corridor in a month, created with clockwork precision between the neighbouring states of Haryana and Delhi, with the co-operation of traffic police in both states.

Friday's cadaveric heart becomes the second donation this week at FMRI, after Monday, when the heart donated by the family of a 44-year-old brain dead patient from Bijwasan in Delhi saved the life of a 54-year-old Gurgaon resident.

In brain death, damage occurs to the brain because of stroke or head injury so that the brain dies but the heart continues to beat for a few hours or days and the vital blood supply to the organs is maintained.