Sahaydri’s cardiac team performs central India’s first heart transplant
8 June 2019 : Sahyadri Hospital’s cardiac team performed the first heart transplant of central India, in Nagpur on Friday giving a new lease of life to a 28 year old man.
The most crucial aspect of this heart transplant involved the long distance transfer of the heart from Pune to Nagpur followed by the surgery. This was made possible by the expertise and team effort of doctors from Sahyadri hospital, Pune including Dr. Manoj Durairaj, Programme Director, Department of Heart Transplant, Dr. Shantanu Shastri, Transplant Anaesthetist, Mr. Prashant Dhumal, Perfusionist and Mr Mukesh Adheli.
Speaking about the surgery, Dr. Manoj Durairaj, Heart Transplant Surgeon, said “We received a call from Dr. Anant Sancheti from New Era Hospital in Nagpur. ZTCC had informed him about a donor from KEM hospital, Pune. He requested Sahyadri hospital to harvest the heart and bring it to Nagpur. We started the donor operation at around 7:20am and by 10-10:30am we left KEM with the heart and took off on a commercial flight at 11am from Pune airport. We reached Nagpur at around 12:30pm and there through the green corridor we reached the New Era Hospital in just 7minutes. By 2:30pm we were done with the transplant surgery which went on smoothly. This was the first heart transplant surgery in central India which was performed by our team.“
Speaking about the challenges faced in the surgery, Dr. Durairaj said, “The crucial thing about this surgery was the long distance transfer of the heart. The heart was to be in the box for a longer period of time. We also took a commercial flight and hence the coordination had to be perfect.”
Dr. Ketan Apte, Unit Head At Sahyadri Hospital said, “Such long distance transfer surgeries like in this case involving a travel of 700km needs a perfect management of time, an expert team of doctors and availability of all facilities. Understanding this, the team work that can be seen in this particular heart transplant is not just of pride for Sahyadri hospital but for the entire state. The success of this heart transplant goes to ZTCC’s Arti Gokhale, the work done by social workers at KEM hospital, the administration effort at New Era hospital, the green corridor implemented by the traffic police and the team of doctors at Sahyadri hospital.”
