BENGALURU: Medical professionals in the city were able to help save the life of a 50-year-old man with quick co-ordination and transportation of organs through a green corridor in the city on Thursday night.
The green corridor was created for heart transplant which was to take place at Narayana Hrudayalaya.
The organ was retrieved from a 20-year-old patient in Manipal Hospital who was declared brain dead on Thursday.
While the retrieval began around 11.30 pm, the process was completed by 1.30 am and within twenty minutes it was taken to Narayana Hrudayalaya through the green corridor.
The donor was the victim of a road accident and was admitted to Manipal Hospital in HAL Layout on May 24. His bike skid and he fell on to the pavement. He was admitted to the hospital but he could not recover.
“After he was declared brain dead we got to know that there was a patient waiting for heart transplantation in Narayana Hrudayalaya. We approached the family of the victim to check whether they would be ready to donate the organs. They agreed and the procedure was immediately initiated,” said Dr Olithselvan, Chairman and consultant Hepatologist, Manipal Hospitals.
The donor was unmarried and his family, natives of Vellore, resides in Bengaluru.
One of his kidneys was donated to Victoria Hospital, the other is with Manipal Hospitals. The corneas were given to Narayana Nethralaya.
Heart transplant needs to be completed within a maximum of six hours of retrieval of the organ. It is well known that the availability of organs for transplant does not suffice for the high number of patients waiting for organs. As a result, mortality rate of patients during the waiting period is high, Dr Olithselvan added.
The city has seen success stories of several green corridors for organ transplants.
In April, the heart of a brain dead patient was airlifted from the city to Chennai and was transplanted to a man from Jodhpur.
In February, through a traffic-free corridor, a 50-year-old’s life was saved by transporting a liver between the cities in just two hours.