Early on Tuesday morning, Fortis Malar Hospital here received an alert from Kochi. They were told that a young boy had been declared brain dead, and his relatives were ready to donate his heart. The hospital in Chennai had a waiting recipient — a 10-year-old girl from Kazakhstan, who had come in over a month ago.
“She has dilated cardiomyopathy and is a very sick child. Both her ventricles are affected,” said K.R. Balakrishnan, director, cardiac sciences, at the hospital.
Chartered aircraft
A team from Fortis Malar flew in to Kochi on a chartered aircraft and, having harvested the heart, flew back, landing in Chennai at 8.13 p.m. Thanks to a green corridor, they arrived at the hospital at Adyar at 8.23 p.m.
The surgery started shortly afterwards and by about 10 p.m., it was completed. “The surgery went well and she is doing fine now,” said Dr. Balakrishnan, adding that the ischemic time of the heart (time spent outside the body) was about three hours and 45 minutes. Dilated cardiomyopathy is a condition in which the heart muscles are ballooned and weak, not being able to pump efficiently.
Shincy Paulose, mother of 12-year-old Adith Paulson from Thrissur, gave consent for organ donation after she learnt about his brain death. Besides the heart, his lungs, liver, kidneys and cornea were also donated.
This is the second inter-State organ transfer between Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the last week. On August 11 too, a team from the same hospital had flown in to Kochi and then transplanted a heart on to a man from Maharashtra.
