Heart harvested from a bizman, transplanted

Cleared/Ali

Coimbatore: The heart of a 22-year-old business analyst, who was declared brain dead by a city hospital, was flown to Chennai on Wednesday morning and transplanted to a sixteen-year-old. The harvested heart was airlifted in a commercial flight from the city at 11.15am and reached Chennai at 12.15. The Chennai Police had created a green corridor, allowing the heart to be transported from the airport to Fortis Malar Hospital, a distance of 15 km, in just 13 minutes.

Navaneeth, 22, was working as a business analyst in Bengaluru. He met with an accident while riding in a bike from Bengaluru to his parents’ house in Ottapallam, Palakkad, on Monday. The accident took place when he reached Dharmapuri at 11.30am. Navaneeth’s bike collided head on with another bike coming in the opposite direction. The analyst was rushed to Salem Government Hospital, after which he was brought to city-based Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital (KMCH) the same night.

He failed to respond to treatment at the KMCH. Doctors declared him brain dead on May 16. The patient’s father Sankaranarayana came forward to donate Navaneeth’s organs. While the two kidneys were sent to TRANSTAN, the liver was allotted to KMCH. But the heart was allotted to the 16-year-old patient at Fortis Malar Hospital. The eyes were donated to Aravind Eye Hospital.