PUNE: Doctors from a private hospital in the city this week flew in lungs from a patient in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, to save the life of a patient who was admitted with H1N1-triggered breathing complications.
A team of specialists from Pune flew to Raipur to retrieve the organ, donated by a patient there who was declared brain dead on Aug 11.
The transplant procedure in Pune was performed at 2am on Aug 13. A high-speed green corridor was set up by authorities from the hospital in Raipur to the city’s airport and then onwards to Pune airport and the hospital in Pimpri, to ensure the organ, which ran the risk of deterioration, reached the recipient here on time.
In fact, the entire organ transportation procedure — from the hospital in Raipur to the one in Pimpri — was completed within three hours, a statement released by the hospital here said.
The recipient, doctors said, is a 45-year-old woman who was admitted with H1N1-triggered Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). She was earlier admitted to a hospital in Pune but was moved to DPU Super Speciality Hospital in Pimpri for a critical and cutting-edge life-support mechanism called Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO).
She was listed in the Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee (ZTCC) for a super-urgent lung transplant, officials said.
Doctors in Pune said the successful transplant wouldn’t have been possible without the high-speed transport corridor.
“We thank Pune and Raipur police and airport authorities for their unrelenting efforts towards arranging the green corridor totransport the organ to Pimpri,” said Dr Sandeep Attawar, director of heart and lung transplant at DPU Super Specialty Hospital.
“As a result, the transplant took place within the stipulated time on the same day and was allocated as per norms of the Zonal Transplant Coordination Center. This organ donation is an ode to International Organ Donation Day [Aug 13] as this is the first time an organ from Chhattisgarh was transported to Pune, covering a distance of 1,033 kilometres in record time,” Dr Attawar added.
Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.Steffy Thevar is a Pune-based senior correspondent working for th...
Read MoreSteffy Thevar is a Pune-based senior correspondent working for the Times of India. She writes on health, urban infrastructure and gender parity issues. She has worked in Mumbai for three years and shifted to Pune and covered the Covid19 pandemic. She had completed her masters in Journalism and Mass Communication from Savitribai Phule Pune University's department of Mass Communication and Journalism. She also writes on a range of issues including housing, human rights and environment.
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