Mumbai: A 27-year-old Ukrainian woman has become the first foreign national to get a donor heart from a 22-year-old Surat resident. The heart transplant was carried out at Fortis Hospital in Mulund on Monday.
The Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee (ZTCC) and National Organ and Tissue Transplant organisation decided to give the heart to the foreign national as none of the patients in India matched the criteria. “We did a thorough check, but we could not find a patient who could match the donor’s age, weight and blood group. Therefore, the preference was given to the foreign national,” said a member of the ZTCC.
The heart was transported from Surat’s Unity Hospital in one hour and 32 minutes in a charter flight. The recipient, a housewife from Ukraine, was suffering from Post-partum Dilated Cardiomyopathy, and had been on the wait list for the past two days. The donor was declared brain dead following a road accident. The patient’s father also donated his liver, pancreas, corneas and kidneys.
