HYDERABAD: An eight-year-old boy, whose heart was functioning at just eight per cent against the normal 60 per cent found a suitable donor at the final stage through the Telangana government’s Jeevandan programme of cadaver transplantation.
Yashwant, from Andhra Pradesh's East Godavari district, underwent a life-saving surgery on April 8 and is said to be stable now. He was diagnosed with bi-ventricular dysfunction and was in the final stages of his life.
He was ailing for the last two years, and a heart transplant was his only chance for survival, but was not advisable at his age.
Though up to Rs 7 lakh was required for the surgery, Rs 20 lakh was sanctioned from the Andhra Pradesh chief minister's relief fund (CMRF), and the rest was donated by Karvy Computershare Ltd through Hrudaya Foundation.
After Yashwant's father’s death in 2014, his mother struggled to make ends meet, and raising Rs 20 lakh was near to impossible. His condition also presented various surgical challenges for the doctors.
A team of doctors, headed by Dr Gopichand Mannam from Star Hospitals and Hrudaya Foundation came together to raise Rs 15 to Rs 20 lakh for Yashwant’s surgery.
Through the Jeevandan programme, authorities counselled and convinced the family of an 18-year-old youth, who was declared brain dead, to donate his organs to Yashwant.
The 18-year-old was declared brain dead after an accident at Chityala in Nalgonda district and was admitted at Kamineni Hospital.