A pair of lungs from Pune were flown in to Chennai, where one was transplanted in a patient at Glenagles Global Health City.
Late on Wednesday night, the hospital team received an alert about the lungs. A 22-year-old young woman met with a road traffic accident and sustained a severe head injury. Despite treatment, she was declared brain dead and the family came forward to donate her organs. An organ retrieval team rushed to Pune’s Ruby Hall Clinic, and the lungs were harvested at 1.30 am on Thursday, said a press release.
The organs were taken to Pune airport by road and then on a flight that landed in Chennai at 4.30 a.m. In less than 15 minutes, they were at the hospital. A waiting patient at the hospital, a 63-year-old woman with interstitial lung disease (in which the gas exchange mechanism in lungs breaks down), and who was on oxygen support, was the recipient.
Sandeep Attawar, programme director and chair, cardiac surgeries and thoracic organ transplants, said that the second lung, due to trauma to the donor, was not usable. The hospital noted the involvement of, and thanked all the bodies involved — the police, fire and rescue department, the aviation department and the donor management team at Ruby Hall Clinic, among others.
In another organ donation at Sri Ramachandra University, a 33-year-old technician’s organs were donated recently, a press release said. The man, a resident of Triplicane, suffered a severe head injury at his workplace and was admitted on August 13. He was declared brain dead on August 15.
His wife came forward to donate his organs. The liver was transplanted in a 54-year-old businessman from Kolkata, while one kidney went to a 55-year-old man from Neyveli.
The other kidney and heart were shared with another hospital, while the hospital retained the corneas.