Narayana Health City, Bengaluru on 13 March achieved a challenging feat of conducting 2 heart transplants on the same day, one of them being paediatric, thanks to the donors and the combined efforts of the doctors, police department, and a leading blood bank.

City-based Narayana Institute of Cardiac Sciences, Narayana Health City, on 13 March conducted two heart transplants and saved two lives after the donors, a 10 year-old boy and a 41 year-old woman give a new lease of life to a 10 year-old girl and a 40 year-old woman, respectively. In the first case the 10 year-old donor who hails from Magadi in Kolar District of Karnataka, was admitted at Adichunchanagiri Institute of Medical Sciences following an accident at Nagamangala on March 9. He was later shifted to BGS Global Hospital, Kengeri. However, he was declared brain dead on 12 March and the family consented to donate their son’s organs.

The heart was retrieved by a team of doctors from Narayana Health City and was transported from BGS Global Hospital to Narayana Health City with the help of green corridor provided by the police. The distance of 30 km was covered in a span of 26 minutes. Hailing from Kundapur, the recipient who is a 10 year-old girl was suffering from Dilated Cardiomyopathy with severe LV dysfunction as well as mild left ventricular hypertrophy for which she was being treated at Narayana Health City. As her condition was not improving, she was advised to undergo a heart transplant.

Speaking about the transplant, Dr Shreesha Maiya, Paediatric Interventional Cardiologist, Narayana Institute of Cardiac Sciences said, “This girl is one of our youngest heart transplant recipients. She had extremely poor heart function due to which she was very sick and not able to perform basic daily activities. Her heart was not responding to any medications we tried and hence she had to be transplanted. There are many other children like her who would benefit from heart transplant, but we hardly find any donors. We are extremely grateful for this family who donated organs and we hope others would follow the lead and donate organs so that many more children can be benefited.”

In the second case, the other donor was a 41-year old nurse who had met with an accident while she was on her way to a temple at Madurai Road. Following the accident she was admitted at a local hospital there but was later shifted to Sapthagiri Hospital where she was treated for a while and later referred to Columbia Asia Hospital. However, she was declared brain dead on 12 March. Post the family’s approval, her heart was retrieved by a team of doctors from Narayana Institute of Cardiac Sciences and was transported to Narayana Health City this morning. With the help of the traffic police department, a green corridor was created. The distance of 23.5 km was covered in a span of 29 minutes.

The recipient who is a 40-year old female was suffering from Dilated Cardiomyopathy with severe LV dysfunction. She was being treated at Narayana Health City during which she was advised to undergo a heart transplant. The heart transplants were performed by Dr Julius Punnen, Dr Ravi Shankar Shetty, Dr Varun Shetty, and Dr Raghu (Cardiothoracic & Heart Transplant Surgeons). The team of cardiologists include Dr Bhagirath Raghuraman, Dr Srikanth K V, as well as paediatric cardiologist Dr. Shreesha Maiya. The team of specialised cardiac anaesthetists included Dr Muralidhar K, Dr Lakshmi and Dr Pooja all of whom are a part Narayana Health, Bengaluru.

Bangalore Traffic Police under the leadership of Mr. Kasim Raja and Mr.Hitendra helped the hospital in organising a green corridor and shifting the organs in a short duration. Further, the TTK blood bank also deserves a special mention for helping us in assessing the compatibility of cross matching between donor and recipient, a Narayana Health City release said here.