A 14-month-old boy from Surat and a 45-year-old woman from Karjat gave a new lease of life to several critically ill patients, after their families donated their organs on Wednesday.
Somnath Shah was playing near a staircase when he slipped and suffered a severe head injury last week. Doctors at the New Civil Hospital declared him brain dead, after which his parents agreed to donate his kidneys and heart. While the kidneys were transplanted to a 15-year-old boy in an Ahmedabad hospital who was on dialysis for 10 years, his heart was given to a three-and-a-half-year-old girl from Navi Mumbai, who had been on the waiting list for the organ for one year.
The heart was transported to Fortis Hospital in Mulund by air. A green corridor was created for the organ, which reached the hospital in one hour and 25 minutes.
ADVERTISEMENT
In the second case, relatives of Tarabai Shavan, who was admitted to the State-run JJ Hospital due to a brain stroke, decided to donate her organs after she was declared brain dead.
Her heart was given to a 38-year-old patient from Kharghar. The surgery was carried out at Fortis Hospital and the organ was brought there through a green corridor from Byculla within 23 minutes. This is the second organ donation carried out by JJ Hospital and 39th this year in the city.
With the two heart transplants on Wednesday, Fortis Hospital has crossed the 50-transplant mark, the most carried out in any hospital in the city. Global Hospital in Parel and Kokilaben Ambani Hospital in Andheri have together carried out 11 heart transplants so far.
ADVERTISEMENT
According to S. Narayani, zonal director of Fortis Hospital, Mulund, they have a 90% success rate. “Of the total number of heart transplants, we have lost about nine people post surgery. The figure is way below the international average,” Ms. Narayani said. She said the rate of survival is dependent on the patient’s condition and how soon he/she gets the organ.