First Intercity Heart Transport by Road in 95 Mins. Review on Medical Miracles

In a case of first inter-city heart road transport, 14-year-old boy, Vaibhav Patil, who was suffering from a congenital heart disease,  got a new heart transport from Pune all the way to Mulund. The 149-km distance was covered within 95 minutes, instead of the usual 2 hours and 45 minutes, courtesy of green corridor.

The heart that was transplanted into Vaibhav Patil was donated by the family of a 28-year-old brain-dead man from Wai, Satara. The donor was a businessman who sustained grievous head injuries after he met with an accident on Tuesday while riding on a pillion with his wife. He was rushed to a local hospital and later shifted to Ruby Hall Clinic on Wednesday. His family conveyed their willingness to donate his organs when they realized that he was brain-dead.

The Borivali boy was suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy, a chronic heart disease in which the heart muscle abnormally enlarges, thickens or stiffens. Four months ago, he registered for a cadaver heart after his health started deteriorating about three-and-a-half years ago. "The boy was desperately in need of an organ. The donor's family deserves highest appreciation for having saved so many lives through their noble gesture. Our young patient is now stable and has been moved to the intensive care unit. Next 48-72 hours will be critical and we will closely monitor him, " said the head of cardiac transplant team at Fortis Hospital, Dr Anvay Mulay. 12 heart transplants have been carried out by the hospital so far this year.

"This is the first time a heart was transported from one city to another by road, " said Aarti Gokhale, central organ transplant coordinator, Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee, Pune. The first case of inter-city organ sharing was when Jupiter Hospital in Thane got a liver from Pune by road.

Deputy Commissioner of Police(traffic), Pune - Sarang Awad said, "The heart was transported to Mumbai via the expressway in the dead of the night. Pune's traffic police escorted the vehicle carrying the retrieved heart from Ruby Hall till the expressway via Baner Road. Since it was in the early hours, we could do it without any hitch. As such, we did not have to deploy any extra teams or even a full-fledged green corridor. It took the vehicle 20 minutes to touch the expressway and from there, teams of Pune rural police and highway police pitched in."