Brain-dead Keralite's heart airlifted to Chennai

The heart of a 29-year-old brain-dead man was airlifted to Chennai today after being harvested at a hospital here.
A team of doctors harvested the heart, liver and kidneys of Ashokan, a native of Cheruthuruthi here, at Daya hospital this morning.
Relatives gave consent to donate the organs of Ashokan, who met with an accident in Kochi on September 27 and had been in an unconscious state for several days. He was declared brain-dead in the wee hours of today, hospital sources said.
"Ashokan's heart was taken to nearby Nedumbaserry airport via road and airlifted in a chartered flight to Fortis Hospital in Chennai," Dr Noble Gracious, nodal officer, Kerala Network of Organ Sharing, told PTI.

Earlier, his harvested kidneys were taken to KIMS hospital in Thiruvananthapuram and liver to Lakshore Hospital in Kochi, he said.
Cadaver donation is steadily catching up in Kerala with state agencies expecting the number of donors to touch 70 this year.