A heart transplant was performed on a 35-year-old man with a chronic cardiac condition early on Wednesday morning at the BD Mehta Mahavir Heart Institute in Surat, giving him a new lease on life.
According to hospital reports, the donor was a 28-year-old auto rickshaw driver from Chikhali in Pune who had suffered a head injury and was pronounced brain dead.
A team from Surat Mahavir Heart Institute successfully harvested the 28-year-old man’s heart at Dr DY Patil hospital in Pune and took the organ in a chartered flight at 5.30 am. The heart reached Surat at 7.30 am. The transplant procedure commenced at 8am and was completed by 1pm, authorities at the hospital said.
Dr DY Patil hospital authorities said the lungs were successfully sent to KIMS hospital, Hyderabad for transplant in a 60-year-old man. One kidney each was transplanted in a wait-listed patient at DY Patil hospital and in another patient at Sassoon general hospital. The liver was also transplanted in a 65-year-old woman at DY Patil hospital.
The 28-year-old man was brought to the casualty section of Dr DY Patil hospital on August 20 but was declared brain dead on August 21. Relatives of the man informed the hospital authorities that the youth had stepped out with his friend during the Dahi Handi festival.
“The police have ruled out any untoward incident and as such it is uncertain how he suffered a head injury. The relatives of the man told us that a friend got him home but when he did not wake up, they admitted him to the hospital on August 20,” Barge said. The relatives were subsequently counselled to donate the young man’s organs.
In Pune this year, there have been 28 brain stem death donors and about 79 organ transplants. Aarti Gokhale is the central coordinator at the Pune-based Zonal Transplant Coordination Center. She stated that since 2017, there have been 38 heart transplants performed in Pune.