Heart travels 149km in 1 hour, 50 minutes

PUNE: A teenager who was in urgent need of a transplant, is now pulsating easy with his new heart. The organ was brought all the way from Pune to Mulund through a green corridor late on Tuesday night.
A distance of 149 km from Ruby Hall Clinic in Pune to Fortis Hospital in Mulund, which otherwise takes 2.45 hours, was covered in 1 hour and 50 minutes.
A 31-year-old brain dead man donated his vital organs including heart, liver and kidneys on Tuesday night putting a new life into four patients in Mumbai, Pune and Nashik suffering from end stage diseases.
On November 27, the donor who was riding a bike collided with a four wheeler.
"He was returning from Goa with his friend when he met with an accident near Satara. He suffered severe head injuries and was admitted to a hospital in Satara from where he was shifted to Ruby Hall Clinic on the same day. His friend who was riding pillion sustained minor injuries. Both of them had removed their helmets for a short tea break, but didn't put them on again," said Surekha Joshi, transplant coordinator of Ruby Hall Clinic.
The man was declared brain dead on November 28 evening.
"When we counselled the family for organ donation they sought some time to decide and called me the next morning agreeing to donate his vital organs," Joshi said.
The man was married and had a two-year-old daughter. His father is a retired post office employee and his younger brother works in Mumbai.
The hospital administration informed the Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee (ZTCC). As per norms, the ZTCC allocated the man's heart to Fortis hospital in Mumbai, his liver and one kideny to Ruby hall Clinic while another kidney was allocated to Rishikesh hospital in Nashik.
A team of doctors from Fortis hospital arrived in Pune at around 5.30pm on Tuesday. The retrieval began at around 7pm. "The heart was put in a medical solution and the team left at around 10.40pm and reached Fortis hospital in Mulund at around 12.30am via a green corridor. It was a well-coordinated effort of doctors, paramedics, traffic police and district administration," said organ transplant coordinator Aarti Gokhale of ZTCC, Pune.
"The 15-year-old recipient had been enrolled for a heart transplant for the last two months. He was suffering from an end stage cardiomyopathy and needed urgent transplant," said a doctor from Fortis hospital.
"This is the seventh heart donated by families of brain dead patients at Ruby Hall Clinic so far," said Bomi Bhote, chief executive officer of Ruby Hall Clinic.