The receiver’s heart was functioning only 20 per cent and he was suffering severe shortness of breath, said the doctors. The first heart transplant in Pune this year was performed Monday at Sahyadri Hospital in Deccan after a medical team took just 150 minutes (two-and-a-half hours) to bring the organ from Kolhapur covering a distance of 270 km, said officials. The heart of a 25-year-old man, who was declared brain dead on April 24, was transplanted in a 59-year-old veterinary doctor who was suffering from end-stage heart failure.
The youth from Devale, who was working with the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited, was admitted to Aster Aadhar Hospital in Kolhapur after he met with an accident.
Aarti Gokhale, central coordinator, zonal transplant coordination committee, Pune, said that after the parents gave consent to donate the organs of their son, efforts were taken by the traffic police of Kolhapur, Karad, Satara, Pune rural and the city police to ensure that the heart reached in 150 minutes.
Dr Manoj Durairaj, programme director for heart transplantation, Sahyadri Hospitals, said that their medical team had left shortly after midnight and reached Kolhapur in the wee hours of Monday morning. “We assessed the donor and then the heart was taken out by 10 am. By 12.30 pm, we reached Pune and harvested the heart. The patient is doing fine and is stable,” Dr Durairaj said. The receiver’s heart was functioning only 20 per cent and he was suffering severe shortness of breath, said the doctors.
Abrarali Dalal, CEO of Sahyadri Hospitals, said that the transplant was possible because of the consent given by parents despite their extreme grief at losing their son at such a young age. “We would also like to salute the traffic police from Kolhapur, Satara and Pune who ensured seamless long-distance travel in such a short time,” he said.
Kolhapur also performed the first liver transplant surgery of the year at Aster Aadhar Hospital.
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