Eastern India witnesses first heart transplant surgery in Kolkata

In a landmark event, a team of doctors at Fortis Hospital, Anandapur successfully transplanted a live heart here today.

The live heart was transported through a 18 kms green corridor from the airport to the hospital in a record 18 minutes time.

The heart was harvested at a Bengaluru hospital before it was airlifted to Kolkata early morning today. The ambulance was driven by Ujjal Das.

Doctors transplanted the heart of a 21-year-old man who died in Bengaluru a day back on a 39-year-old patient from Jharkhand.

The recipient, Dilchand Singh, 39, a patient of dialectic cardio-myopathy, needed urgent replacement.

The operation went on for almost three hours. A team of trained doctors performed the complicated surgery.

The team of doctors who performed this surgery included Dr Tapas Raychaudhury, Director, Cardio Thoracic & Vascular Surgery and Dr K M Mandana, Director, Cardio Thoracic and Vascular Surgery along with Dr SaikatBandopadhyay, Senior Consultant, Cardiac Anesthesiologist & Intensivistfrom Fortis Hospital, Anandpur.

The heart transplant was conducted under the expert supervision of Dr K R Balakrishnan, Director, Cardiac Sciences and Dr Suresh Rao, Chief Cardiac Anesthetist from Fortis Malar Hospital in Chennai who to their credit run one of the largest Heart Transplant Programmes in Asia.