PGI conducts seventh heart transplant

Chandigarh, March 21

The PGI conducted its seventh heart transplant after a 19-year-old donor youth from Karnal died in a critical condition after sustaining a grievous head injury.

The donor, Yogesh Kumar, a resident of a village in Karnal district of Haryana, gave a new lease of life to four people with the transplant of heart, liver, kidneys and pancreas. The retrieved corneas will restore the sight of another two patients post-transplant.

Prof Harkant Singh Baryah, Department of CTVS, PGI, who, along with Prof Shyam KS Thingnam, spearheaded the surgery, said, “The heart transplant surgery has its challenges— the surgery is complex and technically demanding and secondly, there are not too many usable hearts. Even the recipients have to be selected very carefully for these procedures. In this case, we were lucky that the donor heart was in a very good condition. It was due to the untiring efforts by the CTVS team, headed by Professor Thingnam, that the surgery went off well and the recipient is doing fine.”

Yogesh Kumar’s long struggle between life and death came to a halt when he was declared brain dead on March 19. Following the family’s consent, the heart, liver, kidneys, pancreas and corneas were retrieved from the donor for transplant to matching recipients at the PGI.

Prof Surjit Singh, Director, PGI, said, “Despite cadaver donor organ transplants picking up at a consistent pace in different pockets of the country, heart transplants are still uncommon because of complexities.”

Prof Vipin Koushal, Medical Superintendent-cum-Head, Department of Hospital Administration, PGI, said, “One interaction with terminally ill organ failure patients will be sufficient to reveal how painful their lives are and how even daily routine chores are an ordeal for them. We must all come forward to save precious lives by pledging for organ donation and provide a ray of hope to the ever-increasing recipients on the waiting list.”

Donor heart was in good condition

…We were lucky that the donor heart was in a very good condition. It was due to the untiring efforts by the CTVS team that the surgery went off well and the recipient is doing fine. — Prof HS Baryah, Dept of CTVS, PGI