The Golden Hour---A heartbeat away from life !

The Golden Hour---A heartbeat away from life !

In a path-breaking, carefully coordinated operation, spanninf across mumbai and Pune , doctors and cops  worked in tandem to ensure the retrieval, safe transfer and first ever successful heart transplant in the city.

“ As the seconds ticked we were reminded of the precious time we were losing.I felt my own heart was being moved to Mumbai”, said cardio-thoracic surgeon Dr. Sanjeev Jadhav who was part of the operation.

In a meticulously planned inter-city operation involving doctors and the police  the hear was was moved from Jehangir Hospital in Pune to  Fortis Hospital, Mumbai in 90 minutes !

The heart was recovered from a 42-year-old woman who was declared brain dead after she suffered an intra-cranial aneurysm. She had already pledged her organs for donation in the event of death which could five a new lease of life to 5 others including the 22-year-old who received her heart. The donor’s family described her as  an educated, kiind-hearted lady who loved classical music and good food. She had been undergoing treatment since July29 and was declared brain dead on August 2,  when Fortis made a request for her heart.

Dr. Jadhav recovered the heart from the deceased woman and accompanied it on an Air Deccan chartered flight to Mumbai the same day, carrying out the transplane the same  evening. Dr. Manisha Bobade ( CEO-medica; director) at Jehangir along with a team of doctors monitored the entire peration. “ Moving the heart from the Pune hospital  to Fortis in Mumbai took 90 minutes. We had coordinated with the Zonal Transplant Coorfination Committee and the traffic police who ensured that the ambulance carrying the heart reached the hospital in 7 minutes”.

Dr. K.R. Balakrishnan, director cardiac sciences at Fortis  Malar Chennai, who was flown in to conduct the surgery said, “ without the transplant, the 22-year-old Anwar Khan was looking at barely 2 weeks of life”. The cost of such transplantations usually goes over Rs. 25 lakh but the major problem is finding  a donor. The patient is recovering well, is off the ventilator and is able to talk and eat without help.

 Meanwhile a 29-year-old Vashi ( Navi Mumbai) resident successfully underwent the city’s second heart transplant which was retrieved from KNK Nair a 63-year- old scientist with BARC who was declared brain dead after a bike accident. While his hear and 1 kidney were donated to Fortis, the second kidney went to Mahim’s Hinduja Hospital, liver to Global Hospital (Parel) and eyes to Laxmi Eye bank.

Dr. Anvay Mulay chief of cardiac surgery, Fortis  says “ Organ donation saves lives and will boost the confidence of  patients, families and doctors. People should think of dying healthy so that their organs can save lives”.

After 2 major surgeries which were successful, Mumbai experts are hopeful that more people will be spurred to donate organs as well as instil confidence among Mumbaikars  to register for transplants locally.