Successful heart transplant in Mumbai

A high-precision and well coordinated effort between two cities led to a successful heart transplant at a private hospital in Mumbai today.
The transplant was coordinated between Mumbai and Pune for a 22-year-old recipient suffering from intra-cranial bleed and was admitted at Fortis Hospital in suburban Mulund.
The heart came from a 42-year-old donor in Pune's Jehangir Hospital, doctors said.
The journey of the heart, retrieved by Sanjeev Jadhav, Consultant Surgeon, Fortis Hospital, began from Pune, with due consent taken from the donor's family and it was brought here by a chartered flight.
The heart reached Fortis Hospital in 60 minutes after being harvested due to efforts of the Pune and Mumbai Police and airport authorities.

The usually busy 19-km route from Mumbai airport to Mulund was cleared of traffic by the authorities. This enabled the preserved heart to reach the Operation Theatre at Fortis in record 18 minutes and straight into the waiting hands of Anvay Mulay, Head of Cardiac Surgery, and his team.

"This is a momentous occasion for Fortis and the city of Mumbai. I congratulate the medical teams and particularly the traffic authorities at Pune and Mumbai. I'm sure this is the beginning that places our city firmly on the map as far as heart transplants are concerned," Sukhmeet Sandhu, Regional Director, Fortis Healthcare (Region-West & East), said.

Milind Bharambe, JCP (Traffic), said, "Meticulous planning and timely execution made this feat possible. Advancing from the 'green corridor' in Pune, the heart was airlifted to Mumbai, moving further from Santacruz to Military Road to Santacruz-Chembur Link Road to Chedda Nagar to Eastern Express Highway to Airoli and finally to Fortis Hospital.
"Saving a valuable life made it well worth the effort and we are grateful that the citizens of Mumbai co-operated willingly in this humane endeavour," he said.
"The plane landed at 3.25 pm and the ambulance with the heart was out of the airport within 7 minutes," he said.

Subsequently, DCPs, ACPs and nearly half a dozen Inspectors got on the job of clearing the way for the ambulance.
"The traffic at all the routes, from where the ambulance was supposed to pass, was halted for few minutes," he added.
The operation started at around 4 pm and concluded by late evening, doctors said.
The well-coordinated efforts from all concerned earned praise from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who tweeted, "Commendable coordination between Navy, Police, hospitals & citizens for the heart transplant mission in Mumbai.