Kolkata resident gets new life in city's 2nd heart transplant

A 51-year-old man here got a new lease of life Monday as Kolkata witnessed its second heart transplant surgery at a city hospital.

The organ, harvested at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, was flown to the city in a chartered plane late on Sunday, a senior officer of Kolkata Traffic Police said.

It was brought to Fortis Hospital, Anandapur, in the southern part of the city, from NSCBI airport through a green corridor, covering a distance of 26 km in 16 minutes, he said.

"The corridor was created by Bidhan Nagar and Kolkata Police personnel with help from Swastha Bhawan officials and other stakeholders," the officer added.

The surgery started as soon as the organ arrived in the hospital, a doctor, who was part of the team that performed the operation, said.

"Heart transplant was the only way to save 51-year-old Salt Lake resident, who was suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy," he said.

The family members of the 24-year-old accident victim in Andhra Pradesh had to be counseled before they agreed to donate his organs, the doctor said.

"Once the recipient was identified in Kolkata, a team of doctors from Fortis Hospital in Chennai, rushed to Kakinada to retrieve the heart at 7.57pm Sunday. The team then took the heart to Rajmundry and boarded a charted plane at 9.27pm and reached Kolkata at 11.53pm," he explained.

"The heart recipient will be under constant observation for the next 24 to 48 hours. His condition is stable," the doctor added.

The first successful heart transplant in the eastern part of the country was conducted on Dilchand Singh, a resident of Jharkhand, in May this year.