The heart flown in from Madurai was brought to a hospital in Chennai, where it was transplanted. The Air India flight landed with the organ at 2.40 p.m. and, in 10 minutes, was on its way to the hospital, said airport sources.
K.M. Cherian, Chairman and CEO, Frontier Lifeline Hospital, where the heart was taken, said that the recipient was a 48-year-old man from Pune. The man had been at the hospital for about three weeks, and suffered from cardiomyopathy, said Dr. Cherian. “His condition was fast deteriorating. He was put on an intra-aortic balloon pump, a device used to increase coronary perfusion, and improve the pumping capacity of the heart, but he was an urgent candidate,” he said.
“When the heart became available, we flew to Madurai on a morning flight, harvested the organ and brought it back late afternoon. The transplant has been successfully completed and the patient is doing well,” he added.
