First human-to-human heart transplant in eastern India

In a landmark event, a team of doctors at Fortis Hospital, Anandapur successfully transplanted a live heart here today. The live heart was transported through an 18 km green corridor from the airport to the hospital in a record 18 minutes time. The heart was harvested at Bengaluru hospital before it was airlifted to Kolkata early morning today.

The team of doctors who performed this surgery included Dr Tapas Raychaudhury, Director, Cardio-Thoracic & Vascular Surgery and Dr. K M Mandana, Director, Cardio-Thoracic & Vascular Surgery along withDr SaikatBandopadhyay, Senior Consultant, Cardiac Anesthesiologist & Intensivist from Fortis Hospital, Anandpur. The heart transplant was conducted under the expert supervision of Dr. K R Balakrishnan, Director, Cardiac Sciences and Dr Suresh Rao, Chief Cardiac Anesthetist from Fortis Malar Hospital in Chennai who to their credit run one of the largest Heart Transplant Programmes in Asia.

A 39-year-old male from Jharkhand, who was suffering from Dilated Cardiomyopathy, was the recipient of the heart. He was on the waitlist since January 2017. The 21-year-old donor was declared brain dead after he met with a tragic road accident on May 19. The family decided to donate his heart after they were given informed counseling on organ donation at the Bengaluru hospital. The Cardiac Transplant Team from Fortis Hospital rushed and harvested the donor heart at 7 AM today.

A detailed plan to transport the live heart was worked out between various authorities from Police to state administration and Swasthya Bhawan to execute the green corridor with impeccable timing. The green corridor was created from the hospital to Bengaluru airport. The flight took off at 8.35 AM from Bengaluru and landed at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport at 10:45 AM. The Green Corridor in Kolkata started from the airport and traveled via Teghoria – Baguihati - Lake Town - Hudco building more – Beleghata - Science City - VIP Bazaar to reach Fortis Hospital in Anandapur, covering 18 kilometers in a record time of 18 minutes.

On the landmark heart transplant at the hospital, Dr Tapas Raychaudhury said, “The team at Fortis Hospital, Anandapur is extremely happy that we have successfully performed the region’s first heart transplant surgery. We are confident that this is the beginning of a robust Heart Transplant Programme in Kolkata. This is going to go a long way for treatment of patients requiring heart transplants in the region. We benefitted from the expertise in heart transplant acquired by Fortis group over the past decade.”

Speaking about the condition of the patient, Dr K M Mandana said, “The patient is under constant observation for next 24 to 48 hours. His condition is stable.”

Speaking about the smooth planning and execution of the green corridor between the two cities, Mr Samir Singh, Zonal Director, Fortis Hospital, Anandapur said, “We are deeply honored at this landmark moment for the city. On behalf everyone at Fortis, I would like to submit my humble gratitude to the family of the donor whose support to the cause of organ donation saved a life today. I would like to congratulate the medical teams and all the support staff particularly the Traffic and Police authorities in both cities without whose support this would not have been possible. This is a great testament to clinical excellence for the hospital.”