The life of a 29-year-old Mumbai resident was saved after a heart was transported through a green corridor in 83 minutes from Jehangir Hospital in Pune to Apollo Hospitals in Belapur.
Ravi Sharman Ahirwar, who underwent the transplant on Thursday, received the heart of a 48-year-old woman who died of brain haemorrhage on July 2. The woman’s liver was transplanted into a 61-year-old from Pune.
Dr. Sanjeev Jadhav, the lead doctor who performed the surgery, said, “Mr. Ahirwar was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy in 2007, leading to heart failure. The symptoms worsened in 2019, causing breathlessness from minimal walking, swelling in the lower limbs, and fluid accumulation in the lungs and abdomen. He registered for a transplant with the Zonal Transplant Coordination Centre in February 2020.”
With only a 15% functioning heart, he was on the waiting list for around a year. Dr. Jadhav said, “We informed the patient about the availability of the heart and made preparations for the transplant. The heart was retrieved at 8.30 a.m. at Jehangir Hospital in Pune and transported in 83 minutes to Apollo Hospitals.”
‘Responding to cues’
Dr. Jadhav said that the heart was transplanted in one-and-a-half hours. “The patient is now doing well, awake and responding to verbal commands. Till date, five heart transplants have been performed at Apollo Hospitals,” he added.
