Surat donor's heart reaches Thane hospital via green corridor

Traffic department in Mumbai today created a green corridor for transporting a harvested heart of a Surat-based teenager for an emergency heart transplant surgery of a 43-year-old man at a hospital in Mulund in the district.
The heart, that set out its journey from Surat reached the operation theatre in Fortis Hospital in a matter of 1.15 hours covering a distance of 269 kms. From Mumbai airport the heart reached the hospital in less than half-an-hour.
Surgeons at the Fortis Hospital in Mulund successfully conducted the heart transplant surgery on the patient from Alwar, Rajasthan, who suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy.

The transplant became possible when a 17-year-old boy was declared brain dead at Sunshine Global Hospital in Surat, following a head injury during a road accident. The youth's family consented to donate their his organs to save lives of four deserving recipients by donating his heart, kidneys and liver.
"Airport and Traffic authorities of both cities came together to swiftly lay the green corridor between Surat and Mumbai for the transportation of the heart. The road map and the flight map was immediately put in place and the donor heart left Sunshine Global Hospital, Surat at 10.33 AM reaching Surat Airport at 10.38 AM," an official statement said.

The heart landed at Mumbai Airport at 11.20 AM in a chartered flight, heading out in the stand-by ambulance at 11.31 AM. The green corridor from Domestic Airport (Gate No. 8) to Military Road-Santacruz-Chembur Link Road-Chedda Nagar to Eastern Express Highway-Airoli Junction and finally to Fortis Hospital, helped the heart reach the hospital at 11.47 AM and into the OT at 11.48 AM, the statement said.

"With the successful surgery, the life of the patient was saved from a rapidly deteriorating condition," an official release from Fortis Hospital stated.
Dr Anvay Mulay, Head of the Cardiac Transplant Team, Fortis Hospital, who conducted the transplant surgery, said "The donor's family deserves to be applauded and appreciated for having saved four lives through this noble gesture. The recipient of the heart is now stable and has been moved to the Intensive Care Unit.

Following the necessary tests to validate an adequate
match, the doctors undertook a successful harvest and transplant of this vital organ, Dr Basu said.
Chakraborty's corneas have also been harvested by a team from Disha Eye Hospitals and will be transplanted shortly to deliver the gift of light and sight to visually challenged individuals, she said.
The kidneys of the donor however, could not be harvested as Chakraborty was a known diabetic and was on regular maintenance haemodialysis, Dr Basu said.
A significantly low ejection fraction, compounded by his medical history, ruled out his heart from being suitable for a successful transplant, she said.

"We are grateful for the prompt and comprehensive support extended by relevant government departments and officials, without which we would not have been able to restore the gift of life to the recipients of the organs.
"While our heart goes out to the family of the donor in their hour of loss, we salute and honour their courage in taking this socially-relevant decision," Dr Basu said.
"I am happy that my brother's organs can be donated. We have definitely suffered a loss in our family, but that his organs are helping others to survive will make us feel he is around us in this world," Samar's brother Sujit Chakraborty said.