Doctors at Krishna Shalby Hospital, Ahmedabad conducted a rare heart bypass surgery on an awake patient who was discharged on the 3rd post-operative day, as opposed to normal cases wherein patients are discharged not before 7 to 8 days. The complete procedure was done recently under Mukhyamantri Amrutam 'MA' Yojana, wherein the patient is not being charged a single rupee for the surgery and its related expenses.

Mr. Umarbhai Bhima, aged 45 and hails from Mangrol in Gujarat was suffering from chest pain. Doctors at Krishna Shalby, Ahmedabad investigated on his condition. Angiography was conducted the report revealed that one of his coronary arteries (vessel supplying blood to heart) was blocked. The only option remaining for this patient was to undergo bypass surgery, as a pervious stent in his coronary was also found to be blocked.

Dr. Sadanand Patwari, Cardiac Surgeon at Krishna Shalby Hospital, Ahmedabad, who conducted the bypass surgery said, "Usually heart bypass surgery is done under general anaesthesia, whereby the patient is completely sedated. But, for this patient, me and my cardiac anaesthesia team comprising Dr. Himanshu Mehta, Dr. Vinay Solanki and Dr. Ajay Rathod, decided to do bypass surgery under ‘Epidural Analgesia’ - an injection given in Spine making the surgery totally pain free. The patient was completely awake during the surgery, listening to music and watching the happenings in the operation theatre. After the surgery, the patient was shifted to ICU for a day and another day in the ward. After review of his condition on the 3rd day, we discharged him. Normally, a surgery under general anaesthesia takes 7-8 days for the patient to get discharged.”

Commenting on the procedural benefits of ‘Awake Heart Surgery’ Dr. Sadanand Patwari further added, “the benefits of ‘Awake Heart Surgery’ include, avoiding complications of general anaesthesia, better pain control, early recovery of patient and shorter hospital stay.”