BENGALURU: The heart of a 17-year-old boy was transplanted into a 43-year-old man in a city hospital on Friday, making it the fourth such surgery here in the last 10 days.
The recipient is from Tamil Nadu, and the transplant was done at Narayana Health City. The donor, an accident victim, had been declared brain dead at Columbia Asia Hospital, Yeshwanthpur on Friday morning.
With the help of Zonal Coordination Committee of Karnataka for Transplantation (ZCCK), doctors removed the boy’s heart, which was transported to Narayana Health City on Hosur Road.
A Double Green Corridor was created by the traffic police to transport the heart to Narayana Health City and the pancreas and kidney to BGS Global Hospital.
The transplant surgery was performed by a team of heart specialists and surgeons comprising Dr P V Rao, Dr Julius Punnen, Dr Bhagirath, Dr K V Srikanta and Dr Raghu. The boy’s liver has been retained by Columbia Asia Hospital while the pancreas and one kidney were transported to BGS Hospital and the corneas to Narayana Nethralaya.
‘Donor’s Family Has Final Say’
ZCCK Chief Transplant Coordinator Manjula K U, told Express, “The donor’s family has to give permission for harvesting each organ. They may choose to give only the kidney and pancreas and refuse permission for the heart. We have to accept that. Only when there is an identified donor do we ask for donation of organs.”