A team of doctors at Fortis Hospital, Mulund, Mumbai successfully transplanted a heart onto a four-year-old girl from Jalna recently.

It became possible when the parents of a 13-year-old boy from Aurangabad consented to donate their beloved son’s organs. The boy was declared brain dead after he was rushed for treatment of injuries sustained in a road traffic accident at MGM Hospital in Aurangabad. The team of doctors was led by Dr Anvay Mulay, Head of Cardiac Transplant Team, Fortis Hospital, Mulund. An official statement said a green corridor from the donor hospital in Aurangabad to Fortis Hospital in Mulund was created for swift transplant of donated heart.

The live heart was retrieved by Dr Satish Javali at MGM Hospital before it left in an ambulance to the Aurangabad airport at 1350 hrs. The ambulance reached at the airport at 1354 hrs as it covered 4.8 kms within four minutes. A chartered flight then carried the live heart to reach Mumbai airport at 1505 hrs. From the airport to Fortis Hospital in Mulund, the heart was transported in an ambulance to cover 18 kms in 19 minutes. A total distance of 323.5 kms from MGM Hospital in Aurangabad to Fortis Hospital in Mulund was covered through this green corridor in 0134 hrs. The recipient of the heart from Jalna, daughter of a farmer, was diagnosed with Dilated Cardiomyopathy last year. She has been on the waitlist for heart transplant since May this year. The surgery went off smoothly and she is under observation.