Green corrdior transports heart in 19 minutes covering 25 km

BENGALURU: A

granite merchant

saved minimum five persons in his death, through

cadaver organ donation

on Thursday. A 38-year-old man, who met with a fatal road accident on March 2 was declared brain dead on March 8 at Manipal hospitals.

The heart was retrieved at around 1.30 am on March 9 after completing all formalities, clearances and documentation and transported to Narayana Health City through a Green Corridor arranged by Bangalore Traffic Police. The ambulance covered 25 km in just 19 minutes.

A 43-year-old male patient from Narayana Hrudayala who was suffering from acute heart failure got the fresh lease of life as he got the donor’s heart transplanted on Thursday.

The donor was a

marble businessman

hailing from Rajasthan and settled in Bengaluru. He is survived by his wife and two children. On the ill-fated day of March 2, he was riding his motorbike near Ashoka Pillar in Wilson Garden when he met with an accident and was taken to a private hospital on Bannerghatta Road and later shifted to Manipal Hospital the next day on March 3. He was declared brain dead by doctors on March 8 and the family consented for organ donation.

One kidney went to Manipal hospital and St John’s hospital for needy patients. His corneas were also harvested. “The donor’s family came forward for organ donation despite their agony, loss of the loved one. One of the kidney recipients is a 41-year-old woman, who had undergone a transplant earlier, but had failed, and was looking out for the second transplant. She underwent the transplant now and is on recovery mode,” said Dr Sudarshan Ballal, Chairman, Manipal hospital.

When contacted, officers at Zonal Coordination committee of Karnataka (ZCCK) for Cadaver organ transplant confirmed the same. This happens to be the seventh cadaver heart transplant occurred in the state in the year 2017.

A new life through unknown donor!

In yet another case, a 45-year-old man from Vasantha Nagar got a new lease of life at Mallya hospital. “I was undergoing dialysis thrice a week for the last four years. On March 1 my life took a new turn and a got donor’s kidney. I do not know how to express my gratitude to that unknown person’s family in words,” he told TOI.