CHENNAI: A 14-year-old Pakistani boy suffering from a swollen heart, who was in the city to receive a heart transplant, died due to complications after the operation on Wednesday.
The heart was flown to Chennai on Tuesday after it was donated to from a 12-year-old in Hyderabad (India) who was declared brain dead after an accident. The transplant happened late on Tuesday and early on Wednesday morning, he passed away due to complications.
A resident of Dubai, the boy had a condition known medically as cardiomyopathy where the heart is unable to pump blood due to swelling up. He was admitted to the Chennai based Frontier Lifeline Hospitals a month ago and was being readied for a transplant surgery.
Dr KM Cherian of Frontier Lifeline Hospitals said the right side of the boy’s heart had failed beyond repair. “The pressure in his lungs had gone up quickly and despite the transplant, his new heart could not bear the stress. It did not have the capacity to function like that of a 14-year-old boy’s heart,” he said, adding that it failed soon and eight hours after the operation he died.