Third inter-state transplant saves life of Vashi resident

Green corridor created from airport to Fortis Hospital in Mulund

A 42-year-old Vashi resident underwent a heart transplant after a Surat family donated the heart of their brain-dead relative. This is the third inter-state transplant performed in Mumbai. The heart was retrieved from a hospital in Surat and transplanted at Fortis Hospital, Mulund, after it was flown in on Wednesday morning.

The heart was transported from a Surat hospital to Fortis hospital in 84 minutes, after the donor (above) was declared brain dead. (Photo: Donate Life)

The donor had been admitted to Ayush ICU and Multispecialty Hospital in Surat after he fell unconscious at his residence on Sunday evening. “He was initially taken to a small nursing home from where he was shifted to Ayush hospital where doctors declared him brain dead,” said Nilesh Mandelwala, founder of Donate Life, a non-profit working for the cause.

The donor, Himmat Savaliya, 52, retired two years ago from his diamond business and was living with his wife and children. After doctors at Ayush Hospital declared him brain dead, social workers from the non-profit organisation met Savaliya’s family and explained to them about the possibility of donating his organs. “We have been regularly working to create awareness about organ donation in Surat.

This is the second time a heart was donated from Gujarat and transported to Mumbai,” said Mandelwala. “The family not only agreed to donate the organ but also allowed us to shift the deceased to another hospital for performing an angiography.” Before retrieving a heart for a cadaver transplant, an angiography is performed to determine whether the organ is fit enough for transplant. Savaliya’s family’s donation gave a new lease of life to the Vashi resident. “He had developed a complication in his lungs because of the poor heart condition. He was in and out of the hospital,” said Dr S Narayani, Fortis Hospital Mulund adding that the recipient was on the waiting list for the last five months.

Both the hospitals and Donate Life created a green corridor from Ayush Hospital to Surat airport allowing the heart to be transported within 14 minutes.

The heart was transported using a chartered flight. Within 51 minutes the flight landed at Mumbai. Traffic personnel had already created a green corridor from the airport to Fortis Hospital, Mulund, which helped the transplant surgeons, Dr Anvay Mulay and Dr Sanjeev Jadhav to start the transplant at 4.14 am.