Mumbai doc does lung transplant in Chennai despite accident in Pune

PUNE: A cardiothoracic surgeon performed a successful lung transplant surgery in Chennai late on Monday night despite being injured in an accident in Pune involving the ambulance he was carrying the organ in.

The ambulance, which was transporting the surgeon and his team as well as the lung to be transplanted, crashed into the Harris bridge wall after hitting two vehicles on Pune-Mumbai highway earlier in the evening.

Dr Sanjeev Jadhav, a heart and lung transport surgeon and chief cardiac surgeon at Apollo hospital in Mumbai, reached DY Patil hospital in Pimpri on Monday afternoon to retrieve the lungs of a 19-year-old brain-dead youth. As the operation was carried out at a very short notice, police could not create a green corridor from DY Patil Hospital in Pimpri to Lohegaon airport in Pune.

On the way to the airport, the ambulance first hit a pickup van, then an MSRTC bus and finally crashed into the Harris bridge wall. Not only the vehicle was damaged, Dr Jadhav and a fellow physician were also injured. A backup car from DY Patil hospital was following the ambulance. Dr Jadhav moved into the car, along with his team and the lungs, and reached the airport. From there, the team boarded a charter plane for Chennai.