City plans heart transplant debut

Kolkata:When deceased Samar Chakraborty's family donated his organs, not much was required to find a matching recipient. Being O+, Chakraborty was a universal donor and recipients of any blood group could have benefited. Besides his liver--which saved cirrhosis patient Madhuri Saha--his heart could also have saved another person but for the fact that none of the hospitals in the city is licensed to carry out the surgery . Though doctors found the condition of Chakraborty's heart not too well, they said they could have taken a chance to transplant it if any hospital in the city had the facility.Efforts of flying the organ to another city was also aborted after it turned out not feasible. However, Kolkata can look forward to a more-hopeful future when cadaveric heart transplant could become a reality as at least two hospitals work towards setting up heart transplant units. Apollo Gleneagles Hospital and Fortis Anandapur may be able to set up the infrastructure within a year. “We have been preparing to start a heart transplant unit at our hospital. If all goes well, we will have the facility in our hospital within a year,“ said Dr Rupali Basu, CEO Apollo Gleneagles Hospital.
Sources in Swathya Bhawan said cadaveric organ donation was the only source for heart transplant. Now that such donations have started trickling in, Swasthya Bhawan is ready give licence to more hospitals that have the required infrastructure.
Fortis Hospital Anandapur has already take the first step towards getting the licence with the opening of a comprehensive clinic to tackle heart failure a few months ago.Dr K R Balakrishnan, who is credited to have conducted the highest number of heart procedures in India, and Dr Ravikumar, an international cardiologist at Fortis Malar Hospital in Chennai, came down during the inauguration of the heart-failure clinic to set the ball rolling for a heart transplant unit. “We have started consulting the state health department officials.As a first step towards getting a licence, we were asked to have a brain dead declaration committee. We have already submitted the list of names of people who would be on the committee. But the state government is yet to nominate its representative. We expect the decks to be cleared in about four months,“ said a Fortis Hospital official.
Fortis Anandapur doctors are also being sent to its sister concern at Malar in Chennai regularly to train in organ transplant.
“The infrastructure is not an issue, but we need to get the licence. We have experienced hands, such as Dr K R Balakrishnan, who can guide us in the beginning,“ said Dr Suvanon Roy of Fortis Aanandapur.