In what is claimed to be the first human-to-human heart transplant in eastern India, surgeons in a private hospital in Kolkata on May 21 transplanted the heart of a 21-year-old man who died in Bengaluru a day back on a 39-year-old patient from Jharkhand.

"This operation is being performed for the first time in the eastern region. This is a very major operation, we cannot comment on the outcomes now," said Arafat Faisal, spokesman of the Fortis Hospital here. The recipient is Dilchand Singh, 39, a patient of dialectic cardio-myopathy, who needed urgent replacement. The man hailing from Jharkhand has been admitted in Fortis since last few weeks. The blood group (A-positive) of the deceased and the recipient matched, thereby making the transplant possible.

The operation was completed within three hours by a team of doctors including Tapas Raychaudhury, K.M. Mandana, and Saikat Bandopadhyay. The success of the transplant will be known eventually. Kolkata surgeons are hopeful that the first human-to-human heart transplant in eastern India will increase awareness of organ donation in the state. "This inter-state transplant, taking place in Kolkata will create an awareness in our city or say, state so that people come ahead and take an initiative of organ donation," said. S. Mukhopadhyay.

"It will become easier if we can make use of organs available in our state itself, I will be hopeful about it," he added. The immediate stability after the operation will be clear within 48 hours. But the immunological rejection process can appear gradually and constant monitoring is a need. Mainly haemodynamic monitoring- mainly blood pressure, pulse rate pulmonary artery pressure, right ventricular pressure, urine output, the body temperature - needs to be monitored, says an expert. Kolkata had earlier witnessed kidney and liver transplants. Skin and cornea have also been retrieved.