Army man's heart transplanted to old man in Chennai

New Delhi: Heart of a deceased young serviceman was today flown out from Delhi and transplanted into an old man in Chennai, in what perhaps could be one of the longest green corridors achieved in the country.

"The organ was harvested around 3:15 PM at the Army Hospital (Research & Referral) and then transported in a military ambulance to the Delhi Airport in about 15 minutes."And, from there it was flown to Chennai in a private airline," said a senior doctor at a Chennai-based private hospital where the surgery was performed.

Dr Sandeep Attawar, Director of Heart Failure and Transplant Program, Gleneagles Global Hospitals, said it took an extraordinary coordination among various agencies to achieve this haul, perhaps, "the longest in the country"."We received a notification through NOTTO and TRANSTAN (Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu) at 1:15 PM that a heart was available for transplant and then we immediately swung into action.

"The flight time was 2 hours 50 minutes, and then it took about another 20 minutes from Chennai Airport to the hospital, so nearly four hours overall," he said. National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) is a national level organisation set up under Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health for coordination and networking for procurement and distribution of organs and tissues.

Heart transplant is warranted for patients with end-stage heart failure or irreparable coronary artery disease. In this procedure, doctors replace the ailing heart with a healthy one harvested from a brain-dead patient.