Kottayam Medical College Hospital does 3rd heart transplant

Kottayam: The Kottayam Medical College Hospital on Wednesday successfully conducted its third heart transplant in a year.

The heart of Francis, 48, of Angamaly, who died of head injuries after falling from a cycle, was stitched into K.K. Balan, 51, of Wayanad in an operation that lasted 48 minutes.

Mr Balan, a stoneworker, was undergoing treatment at the MCH for the past three months.

The transplant began at 11.45 am and ended at 12.33 pm. The heart was separated from the body of the donor at 8 am at the Little Flower Hospital, Angamaly, by a team led by Dr T.K. Jayakumar, the professor and head of the department of the cardiothoracic surgery at the Kottayam MCH, Dr Vineetha V. Nair and Dr Sanju Sandeep.

It started functioning in the new body by 12.50 pm. The first heart transplantation surgery in a government hospital in the state was performed here on September 16 last year by Dr Jayakumar and his team.

He led the second transplant on April 26 when Basheer, 45, a native of Edavanakkad in Ernakulam district, received a new heart.