Noida: Donor heart ferried 20 km, gives 56-yr-old UP man a new lease of life

NOIDA: Days after a 20-km green corridor was created to transport a donor heart from Hindon airport in Ghaziabad to a Noida hospital in 16 minutes, enabling a 56-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh with advanced heart failure to undergo a life-saving transplant, the patient is now recovering, doctors related to the hospital said on Tuesday

NOIDA: Days after a 20-km green corridor was created to transport a donor heart from Hindon airport in Ghaziabad to a Noida hospital in 16 minutes, enabling a 56-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh with advanced heart failure to undergo a life-saving transplant, the patient is now recovering, doctors related to the hospital said on Tuesday.

The transplant was the first such procedure in Noida, according to the hospital. (HT Photos)

Speaking during a press conference, the doctors at the Fortis Hospital Noida, Sector 62, said that the patient, Tapas Kumar Dey, is now recovering under intensive medical supervision. The patient had been living with chronic heart failure for years, experiencing recurrent hospitalisations and severe breathlessness.

“Mr Dey’s heart had weakened to a point where no medicine or procedure could help him anymore and a new heart was his only chance,” said Dr Ajay Kaul, chairman, cardiac sciences, Fortis Hospital, Noida.

The transplant was the first such procedure in Noida, according to the hospital.

The heart of a 34-year-old brain-dead woman was flown from Panchkula (Haryana) to Hindon airport before being transported to Fortis Hospital Noida in Sector 62 on September 9, with traffic police and airport authorities in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh coordinating to ensure the organ reached the hospital within its critical viability window of two to three hours.

The primary surgical procedure was completed in about an hour.