16-yr-old boy gets new lease of life with heart transplant

Fortis Hospital doctors travel to Surat and bring organ to Mulund in 1 hour 19 minutes

Mumbai saw its thirteenth heart transplant since August 2015 on Tuesday morning when a 16-year-old boy received a heart from a 22-year-old male donor in Surat, Gujarat.

The Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee said that this is the third paediatric transplant in the state ever since the facility started in the city.

Rahul Karad, a resident of Latur, underwent a life-saving organ transplant at Fortis Hospital , Mulund after the donor’s family consented to donate their family member’s heart. The young donor was declared brain dead on Monday evening following a head injury during a road traffic accident.

A team of doctors from Fortis Hospital, Mulund, who went to Surat to retrieve the donor’s heart, said that the family had also consented to donate the liver, kidneys and corneas.

According to Dr Vijay Agarwal, head of paediatric cardiac surgery, Fortis Hospital, Mulund, Karad was suffering from a heart condition called dilated cardiomyopathy and had been waitlisted by the ZTCC for over a month. “Karad was diagnosed with the condition five months back. When we did an echocardiogram, it showed that only 5% of his heart was active” said Dr Agarwal.

Karad’s family said that Rahul was previously admitted at the state-run JJ Hospital where he had undergone a bypass surgery.

“My son could not appear for his Class 10 exam because of his heart problem,” said Jyotiram Karad, his father who is a farmer.

The family is struggling to pay for the son’s organ transplant and are looking for people who can pay for the treatment.

Doctors added that finding an organ match for Karad’s blood type was slightly easier as his blood group makes

him a universal blood recipient.

“People with AB blood group are mostly eligible to receive blood from all blood groups. In this case, the donor’s blood group was A+,” said Dr Agarwal.