Makeshift ICU at home to house Anwar Khan

Makeshift ICU at home to house Anwar Khan
Doctors prescribe lifetime’s course of immunity suppressing drugs, say first year of recovery is critical.

The city’s first heart transplant patient, Anwar Khan, operated upon three weeks ago, was discharged on Monday. The 22-year-old from Badlapur, who will remain on a course of immunosuppressant drugs for the rest of his life, has been directed to spend the next six months in a makeshift intensive care unit, which his family will erect at a rented apartment near their Badlapur home.

“Anwar needs to consume drugs for the rest of his life to suppress his immunity, lest the foreign heart is rejected by his body,” said Dr Anvay Mulay, Chief Cardiac Surgeon, Fortis Hospital, where Khan received the transplant. “As a transplant recipient it is extremely important to monitor the patient’s health. The patient and family should have good personal hygiene to avoid infections and eat only home cooked food. Immunosuppressant drugs have huge side effects so the patient’s health should be monitored frequently.”

Dr Mulay said the family has been provided a hotline number to the doctors so they are kept abreast of Khan’s health. “The family has been instructed to inform the doctors of even the most minor instances of a cough or a cold in his case,” added Dr S Narayani, Medical Director, Fortis.

“We have rented an apartment in the same building where we reside in Badlapur, as doctors told us that the first year is very risky for him and he requires extra care,” said Anwar’s father, Jamil. “People are not allowed to meet him. We have been asked to use a mask. It’s like we have to create a mini ICU, which allows for zero infections.”

A transplant such as the one Khan received costs Rs 25 lakh in India, but Fortis hasn’t presented them a bill, said Jamil, adding that the monthly bill for his son’s medication will amount to Rs 23,000.

Khan’s medical condition – cardiomyopathy, marked by weakened heart muscles, which causes a reduction in its capacity to pump blood – was diagnosed when he was brought to Fortis a year ago, after he met with an accident during Eid holidays.

The young man was prescribed medication but his condition steadily deteriorated. In June this year, he suffered a heart attack and was brought back to the hospital, where doctors told his family his heart was functioning at 5 per cent of its capacity. Subsequently, Khan endured a brain stroke. The only recourse was a heart transplant. Khan was then registered with the Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee.

On July 31, he suffered another stroke following which Khan had to be shifted to an ICU and tethered to a ventilator. His family was told that the young man’s chances of survival were bleak. On August 2, doctors at Fortis were informed of a 42-year-old woman at Jahangir Hospital in Pune who had been declared brain dead. The next day the woman’s family granted permission for her heart to be donated to Khan. The organ was then transported by air to Mumbai where it was conveyed to Fortis in 18 minutes, after the city police enforced a “green corridor”, allowing the ambulance bearing the organ exclusive passage from the airport to the hospital in Mulund.

Doctors then successfully transplanted the heart, the first such procedure recorded in Mumbai since 1968 (that last attempt failed).

“I remember the day when doctors told my family the heart transplant is the only option to save my life,” Khan, a web designer, said. “I never thought I will not get the heart.”

After he’s worked through therapy, Khan wants to resume working out at the local gym. “I’ll begin in a year,” he said. “I love sports, which I plan to take up after I’m back on my feet.”

“I’m also going to dedicate time to propagating the message that people should not hesitate in signing up for organ donation,” he added.