Surgeons at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute (FEHI) are conducting a heart transplant surgery on a 59-year-old male Delhi resident, suffering from Dilated Cardiomyopathy.

Waitlisted for over a year, the recipient’s condition was deteriorating rapidly, and a heart transplant was essential to save his life. The transplant became possible when a 43-year-old male, was declared brain dead at Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI) who was suffering from a brain stem bleed. His family consented to donate his heart, liver, kidneys saving the lives of four recipients.

Retrieved by team of surgeons from FEHI, the donor heart was transported to FEHI in 31 minutes covering 28 kms by road. Dr Z S Meharwal, Executive Director and Head of the Department of Adult Cardiac Surgery, VAD & Heart Transplantation Program, FEHI is performing the 12th heart transplant for the hospital.

Bidesh Paul, Zonal Director, FEHI said, “Our first heart transplant took place in January 2015. Over the past three and a half years, we have come a long way, and this is the 12th Heart Transplant happening in FEHI. As of today, we have a team of almost 40 people under our “Advanced Heart Failure” program, who work on protocol from heart retrieval to heart transplant. With respect to this case we had 10 people to harvest the heart from FMRI. We are extremely thankful to the Delhi and Gurgaon traffic police for their constant support and involvement in making transplants a reality and ensuring ease in execution.”

Dr Ritu Garg, Zonal Director, FMRI said, “I would like to extend my gratitude to the brave family who took the noble decision to save lives. Our prayers are with the departed soul and wish the speedy recovery for the recipient. This is an extremely intricate process, which involves co – ordination and synchronization with different stakeholders. We receive support from NOTTO, our clinicians and nursing staff, the police and traffic authorities – who play an imperative role in making each transplant successful. We ensured that the donor family received the necessary counselling and once consent was given, we put into the motion the necessary actions.”