Mumbai: Coordinated efforts by doctors, social workers, and the traffic police in Mumbai and Pune enabled two heart transplants in a gap of four hours on Thursday.
Two critically-ill patients — a 24-year-old college student and a 58-year-old man, both suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy— got a new lease of life. While one heart came from Pune’s Ruby Hall Clinic, the second one came from MGM Hospital in Vashi. The transplants were carried out at Mulund’s Fortis Hospital.
In the first case, the heart was harvested from a 22-year-old housewife, who was admitted to Ruby Hall Clinic after a fall. After she was declared brain dead, her husband aggreed to donate her lungs, kidneys, liver and heart. While the other organs were transplanted on patients in Pune, the heart was transported to Mumbai via a green corridor covering 143 kilometres in one hour and 49 minutes.
Similarly, a 45-year-old woman was declared brain dead after a railway accident. Her husband and children gave consent to donate her kidneys, liver and heart. While kidney was transplanted on a patient in MGM Hospital, the second kidney went to a patient in Jaslok hospital. Her liver was transplanted on a patient in Wockhardt Hospital and the heart was sent to Fortis where the patient was said to be on a ‘super urgent list’. The heart was transported to Mulund via a green corridor covering 18 kilometres in 16 minutes.
Doctors said both the patients are doing good. However, the next 72 hours will be critical and they will be monitored round the clock.