Heart travels from Indore to Delhi within 2 hrs

NEW DELHI: In a coordinated operation, the heart of a brain-dead patient was flown from Indore and transplanted in a 35-yearold woman, suffering from endstage heart failure, at Gurgaon’s Medanta Hospital on Thursday.

Green corridors created by the Indore, Delhi and Gurgaon police and priority take-off and landing provided by the airport authorities ensured the entire distance was covered in one hour, 50 minutes. Faced with the challenging task of performing the surgery within four hours of retrieving the organ, the team at Medanta worked on a war footing as even a five-minute delay would have rendered the organ unfit for use.

The heart has the shortest shelf life — four hours — among all the organs that are transplanted such as liver, kidney, eye, etc.

At 5.30 am, a team of specialists from the hospital went on a commercial flight to Indore to harvest the organ from an 18-year-old boy who was declared brain dead in a local hospital.

A team of doctors later flew on a chartered Cessna Citation CJ2 light business jet operated by Indo Pacific Aviation Ltd. around 8 am to bring the heart to Medanta.

“Time was of essence. A team of about 20 doctors, nurses and technicians worked to ensure the organ was brought and transplanted within time,” said Dr Naresh Trehan, Chairman, Medanta.

Trehan headed the team that performed the heart transplant along with Dr Anil Bhan.

“The transfer of the organ took just one hour, 50 minutes with eight minutes on Indore roads, 1.2 hours of flying time and 19 minutes on Delhi-Gurgaon roads. This is a great example of the utility and versatility of business aircraft,” said Karan Singh, owner of Indo Pacific Aviation.

The heart reached Medanta around 1 pm and was transplanted within minutes.

“The heart picked up immediately after the transplant and is beating fine,” said Dr Anil Bhan, senior cardiac surgeon.